Eye of the Beholder
by AriaAdagio
Summary: Final part of the Darkness Series. A string of vampire killings leads Nick on a hunt to find the culprit, but with Nat working on a possible cure and a strange new associate named Alihra, who seems to know him more than he knows himself, he can'y devote


EYE OF THE BEHOLDER   
  
Standard disclaimers apply. Nick, Nat, and the FK gang   
don't belong to me, except for the characters of Alihra and   
Elohr, both of which are the creations of my own, warped   
little mind. Any similarities to other stories or real   
life occurrences are coincidental/unintentional. Permission   
is granted to archive on fkfanfic.com and the ftp site. All   
others please ask so that I can keep track of it.   
  
This fanfic is fourth in my Darkness series, which started   
with When Darkness Falls, and was followed by The Light Must   
Follow, and And So I Walk Into The Fire. Although it is not   
necessary to have read those previous stories in order to   
understand what is going on in this one, you may find this   
more enjoyable if you have read them. In any case, all   
stories in this series are available at my web site, at   
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/diharris/Homepage.htm  
  
This is a NNPacker story, although Janette, Schanke, and   
my own characters make many appearances. This is likely to   
be the last story in this series, I think I've finally come   
to a good stopping point :)   
  
I would like to profusely thank my beta reader, Lois   
Frankel, for all the patience she's had with my bad grammar   
and interesting typos :) I'd also like to thank Laurie and   
Neil for their aid in my French translations, they were a   
big help even if it was just a small part!  
  
Thanks for all the feedback I've received on the previous   
stories in this series, it's kept me writing fervently on   
what's become my longest story ever. All comments,   
questions, flames, and whatnot may be sent to me, at   
aria5@vt.edu. Flames, however, will be promptly   
discarded :)   
  
Anyhoo, you can read now :)  
  
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER  
  
The pale, full moon drifted overhead in the murky black sky,   
its silver halo crowning it with a ring of icy mist. As its   
cold light fell in a soft blanket over the cave-like alley,   
a medium-height, stocky man stood in the darkness looking   
upwards towards it, the embers of his slowly dying cigarette   
glowing like hot glass in a fire. After taking one last   
puff, he threw the thin white cancer stick to the ground and   
snuffed it out with a leather booted foot.   
  
He could hear carolers in the distance, faintly singing   
Carol of the Bells and he shook his head. How they could   
stand out there for so long was beyond him. It was cold,   
damnit! And as far as he was concerned, he was just not in   
the Christmas spirit. He glanced around fruitlessly in the   
darkness. This, was a frozen Hell. That's what it was.   
Stomping his feet lightly, he jumped up and down a bit to   
increase his circulation, debating whether he wanted to stay   
outside long enough to smoke another cigarette.   
  
Drawing his hands to his mouth in two tightly clenched   
fists, he blew his smoky breath onto to his heavily   
callused fingers in a last ditch attempt to warm them. He   
cursed to himself softly. It was so damn cold out! Why'd   
they have to make him take his smoking breaks outside?   
Stomping his foot, he turned towards the door with all   
intents of going back to work, but something stopped him,   
and he turned back to peer into the frigid, tenebrous alley.   
  
He shivered, more out of coldness than of nervousness. His   
thick black parka was not serving its function at all. In   
all his years in the city of Toronto, he'd not once   
experienced such nipping cold. The chill was seeping in   
through his bones and at once it made him feel desperately   
lonely. Cold... Too much like death for his liking.   
  
He shook his mane of flame-red hair as if he half-expected   
it to be frozen solid. It wasn't, but if he'd had the   
unfortunate chance of getting wet he would've found himself   
with a head full of pointy red icicles. Something the   
teenagers of today would've probably made into a cool new   
fashion. Literally cool...   
  
Shrugging off the biting air as if it were a caustic insult,   
he turned once again towards the inviting brown door.   
Inviting him to warmth and security. Its arms were   
beckoning. Come inside, Harry. It's warm. Come on, you're   
done with your cigarette... He placed his frozen hand on   
the handle and pulled the door open a couple inches. Time   
to go in, he'd had enough of contemplating the bitter   
coldness.  
  
EEEEIIIII  
  
It echoed through the alley like a screeching bird of prey,   
the high pitched scream assaulting the brick walls and his   
ears until he felt that his fragile eardrums were about to   
melt. His hands immediately flew from the door handle and   
clapped over his cherry-red, frostbitten ears. "Who...   
who's there?" he cried, terrified at what specter could make   
such an ungodly noise.  
  
Only the wafting chill of soft northern wind greeted him.   
He would've passed it off as his own overactive imagination   
if it weren't for his ringing, throbbing ears.   
  
CLICK CLICK CLICK  
  
It sounded like the spiked heal of a woman's pump on the   
pavement and he threw his glance wildly about trying to   
pinpoint the sound, but the echoes provided by the alley   
walls made it next to impossible. "Hello???" he called   
again, his voice wavering nervously like a runaway seesaw   
as he fought to keep his calm.  
  
Something flew past his face, the cool whiplash of air   
shocking his already flushed, frozen cheeks. That was it...   
He turned to dash inside, he wasn't up for these games. It   
must be someone from the office trying to play tricks on   
him. Tricks. That was it.   
  
But he was stopped as a pair of bony thin arms snaked around   
him and pushed the air out of his lungs with a sharp   
squeeze. The exhalation of breath was like a pitiful yelp,   
and he slowly started to panic when the crushing grip would   
not let him inhale again. Standing there in quiet terror,   
he felt the world begin to dim as his oxygen-deprived brain   
began to shut down. But just when he thought it was the   
end, the arms loosened, and he drew in a desperate breath,   
his lungs whistling as they spasmodically sucked in as much   
air as they could. He felt warm, moist breath on the nape   
of his neck slowly move around to his ear as he panted   
wildly in terror, his breath escaping from his chapped lips   
into heavy clouds of twisting vapor.   
  
"Don't say a word..." the whisper came like a tinkle of   
heavenly bells, as if an angel itself had come to speak with   
him. It was a woman, that he was sure of, and for some   
reason he felt his fear siphoning out of him. He became   
relaxed and yet somehow exhilarated at the same time as an   
acrylic nailed finger traced patterns in the short, soft,   
fuzzy hair that littered the back of his neck.  
  
He shuddered and he felt himself becoming strangely   
aroused. The danger, the passion. It was all so   
enticing... He was ripped from his fantasies, however, when   
the mysterious woman roughly turned him around and planted a   
wet kiss on his lips. Deep and fulfilling, he was shivering   
in ecstasy before he even had a chance to look her in the   
eyes. His brain felt like it was about to explode and he   
grabbed at her, kissing her back wildly and wondering at the   
same time what the Hell he was doing. Kissing a complete   
stranger in the freezing, darkened alley? This was not the   
thing he would've imagined himself spending his night doing.  
  
But he somehow didn't care. He was in the arms of a goddess   
to behold. A goddess. He didn't care. It felt too damn   
good for him to care, and as he groped at her deliriously  
unrestrained, he felt a fiery warmth replace the bitter   
cold that had inhabited him only minutes before.   
  
Finally, in desperate need of air, he pulled back and took a   
deep breath. "Who..." he started to ask breathlessly, but   
she clapped her hand over his lips before he could utter   
another word.   
  
"It doesn't matter..." she stated quietly, her deathly pale   
skin gauntly stretched across her face to the point that she   
looked unnatural. Like some creature not of this earth. He   
sighed dreamily. Not a creature of this earth... An   
angel...   
  
Her eyes even seemed to glow a glittery golden hue, shining   
forth like two suns in a blackened sky, their brilliant   
fires blinding all those who dared to look. "Close your   
eyes..." she commanded.  
  
He could hear his own heart thundering in his ears, and as   
he stared at those beautiful eyes, the rest of his world   
became black. All he saw were the eyes. Two floating orbs   
of sunlight in the abyss, calling to him longingly to obey.   
Without even consciously willing them to do so, he felt his   
eyes lazily droop shut as he took in another breath,   
anticipating the further ecstasy that was to come.  
  
A bestial growl rumbled through the alley, but he was too   
lost to care. Lost in his own drumming heartbeat, thumping   
wildly. Cold, gnarly fingers unzipped his parka and drew   
the confining fabric away from his pulsing jugular. His   
mind began to drift to a far away place as he felt a sharp   
prick in his neck.   
  
Now... You are mine...  
  
He didn't hear it really. He just knew it. And that was   
when he felt his consciousness slipping away through the   
cracks, into the dim shadows that suffocated the alley.   
  
Mine.   
  
His body slipped to the ground of the alley with an echoing   
thud, the mysterious woman already long gone. True darkness   
slid forth over the cool pavement as the clouds finally   
overtook the weeping, defeated moon. And as the cold wind   
began to blow more fervently, glittering snowflakes, like   
facets of a crystal in a gleaming sunrise, fell softly to   
the ground and coated the still corpse with a light dusting   
of winter frost.  
  
*****   
  
Natalie stared at the vial of liquid on the table in quiet   
anticipation. Lyzatrex. An experimental drug, very similar   
to Lidovuterine B in chemical components except that unlike   
Lidovuterine, it was meant to stimulate red blood cell   
growth in anemics. Lidovuterine had been the closest she'd   
every gotten Nick to a cure. If she could just find some   
derivative of it that worked without the addictive and other   
psychological effects, she'd have a great start as long as   
the vampire element in Nick's blood didn't keep regenerating   
like it had for the Lidovuterine.   
  
Staring hard at the tiny vial, she sighed. She desperately   
wanted to test it, but... if she did, was she prepared for   
yet another failure? She glanced down to her outstretched   
hand, simply frozen in midair as if it were inanimate. The   
muscles ached, but for some reason, she simply couldn't   
bring herself to advance.   
  
With her free hand, she brushed a stray brown curl out of   
her face, away from her wide eyes. Taking a deep breath,   
she laughed heartily when she noticed that the rubber   
dropper in her hand was getting slightly damp from her own  
perspiration. Why was she so nervous? It wasn't like this   
test would have any real bearing on anything...   
  
Well, yes, actually, it would... If it worked, Nick would   
be the happiest man alive. And if it worked, it would be   
the happiest day of her life since Nick had returned to her.   
Because it would mean that he could become mortal. Nick,   
her angsty vampire lover, her _best friend_, would have his   
one great wish. The most precious wish in his entire life.   
One that had never truly been granted. The Lidovuterine had   
given him a taste of what was to come, but its psychotropic   
effects had ruined any enjoyment he would've gotten out of   
it.   
  
She brushed a tear away from her eye. There were so many   
ways they could've spent that one day in the sun... and   
she'd chosen to be the scientific one and act skeptic. It   
pained her to realize that even if he'd suggested a simple   
thing like a picnic or a walk in the park, she probably   
would've told him that it wasn't a good idea and that he   
should stay inside. True, they hadn't been romantically   
involved at the time, but they could've done _something_   
special... Like, she'd always wanted to see what he thought   
of chocolate, and she hadn't even forced him to sample a   
Milky Way, or double fudge ice-cream. What a crime!   
  
But enough of that. If the test worked... She sighed,   
trying to ignore the little voice in her head asking her   
doubting mind what would happen if it didn't work, even   
though she already realized that the odds against this were   
nearly insurmountable. Nick had developed a pretty   
reasonable immunity to the Lidovuterine. It was doubtful   
that this Lyzatrex serum was different enough to work to its   
full capacity, if at all.   
  
Nat realized with a laugh, that unintentionally, she had   
shifted her thoughts to the negative side once again.   
Enough! This was the first possible cure she'd managed to   
research since Nick had returned. She had to be positive!   
It wasn't like Nick would know if it didn't work. She   
hadn't even told him that she was getting close to something   
yet. She didn't want to get his hopes up. But what about   
her hopes? She realized it was too late to save them from   
their trip into the rafters.   
  
Nat shook her head. This would work. It _would_ work.   
Yeah, that was right, be an optimist... With a firm new   
resolve, she took the dropper still waiting patiently in her   
clammy hand and dipped it into the vial of pale blue liquid,   
loosening her grip on the rubber end of the dropper to suck   
some of the Lyzatrex into it.   
  
Lifting the dropper from the vial, she glanced at it only   
briefly before sweeping her hand across the table towards   
the slide that held a small sample of Nick's blood. With   
one final deep breath of anticipation, she squeezed the   
rubber lightly, slowly dripping out a few drops of the   
liquid onto the slide.   
  
Like a flash she was at her new microscope, gasping slightly   
as she saw what was happening on that small slide. The   
Lyzatrex was overwhelming the extra nucleotides in Nick's   
blood, completely obliterating them. It was as if they were   
just exploding. And then nothing. She was suddenly staring   
at a very normal looking, human blood sample. Woah...   
  
She smiled as she stared at the slide. That had happened   
really fast. And it appeared to be working. The only   
problem was that a violent reaction like that probably meant   
it was going to hurt if she injected Nick with it.   
Obviously, there were a few more things she'd have to look   
into, but... She bit her lower lip, already starting to   
worry a bit. How to bring this up with Nick?   
  
The results of the last drug test she'd tried with Nick had   
been very disturbing for her. For Nick it must've been a   
nightmare. She still remembered what she'd walked in on in   
the loft. Nick had gone home after giving his statement   
regarding Vinetti, and she'd gone over a few hours late to   
check on him. Nothing had prepared her what she saw.   
  
FLASHBACK - TORONTO 1995  
  
She entered the loft to find him huddled in the corner by   
the steps, shaking like a leaf caught in a breeze. His arms   
were clasped around his knees with a vice-like, white-  
knuckled grip as if he were afraid he'd fall apart if he let   
them go. And slightly threatening, she couldn't tell if he   
was vamped out or not because his forehead was resting on   
his forearm, safely tucking his face away from view.   
"Nick?" she said with worry, afraid that he was wallowing in   
their failure to cure him. The Lidovuterine had been a   
terrible mistake. A terrible mistake...   
  
He looked up in her direction, but it appeared as if he   
wasn't actually seeing her. His glassy golden eyes wandered   
back and forth minutely as if they couldn't focus and she   
felt her heart quicken slightly in fear. He was obviously   
in the grips of his vampiric side, and she briefly found   
herself contemplating the danger she was in but when she   
heard him moan as if in some discomfort she forgot all about   
it. "Nick?" she called again hesitantly as she walked over   
to him.  
  
He still said nothing, only continuing to stare blankly in   
her general direction. Something was wrong. Very wrong.   
His breathing was ragged, and she could hear it rasping in   
his throat as if it were causing him pain. Very concerned,   
she sat beside him and placed her hand on his trembling   
shoulder, only now noticing that his silky blue shirt was   
ruined with the red wetness of his sweat. Her touch   
finally registered with him, and he practically leapt out of   
his skin, growling wildly with his fangs extended.   
  
"Woah! Nick, it's me! Nat!" He flailed blindly and let   
out a small sob, blood tears trickling down his pale face.   
Nat hugged him to her tightly. "Nick, what's wrong?" she   
asked quietly as his sob became sobs, and then full blown   
crying. It was shocking, and she was at a complete loss as   
to what to do. She'd never _ever_ seen him cry. Never.   
He was not one to show his emotions so unchecked...  
  
"Nat..." he gasped as he pulled himself out of her embrace.   
The look in his eyes was enough to make her want to cry   
right along with him. It wasn't so much the pain evident   
in his sullen eyes, but more the look of being utterly lost.   
"I can't... I can't stop my hands from shaking..." he said   
pitifully, holding up his hands for her to see as if that   
was the worst of his troubles. True to his word though,   
his hands were trembling despite his obvious attempts to   
hold them still.   
  
As Nick groaned in frustration, staring at his hands with a   
look of utter consternation, Nat finally realized what was   
going on. It was withdrawal. The Lidovuterine had had   
addictive properties, and now he'd come crashing down off   
the high of the past night when he'd caught Vinetti. He'd   
seemed all right then, but he'd gone home almost immediately   
after they'd taken his statement. She hadn't thought   
anything of it. But she should have...  
  
She looked at his trembling hands for only a second before   
she clasped them warmly in-between her own. Even then, she   
could still feel them shaking in her grasp. "Nick, shhh,   
it'll be all right," she said softly. It felt fake telling   
him that he'd be all right. She knew that some addicts   
never got over their cravings, and that they went through   
life constantly reminding themselves not to give in... What   
had she done?  
  
"Need some more... lido... vu... te... rine," he said   
woefully as his teeth began to chatter.   
  
She was shocked, her eyes widening in response. "Nick, you   
can't be serious..." she exclaimed, looking at his withered   
form in alarm, but it appeared that he hadn't even heard   
what she'd said. With her heart in her throat, she watched   
as he clutched his abdomen and cried out in pain. He leaned   
forward slightly and she saw his torso spasm as if he were  
about to vomit, but nothing came up.   
  
He gasped and ground his molars together. "Stop... stop the   
pain..." he whispered as he looked forlornly in her   
direction, off into some void of space only he could see.   
She'd never seem him look so incredibly disoriented. So   
defenseless...  
  
"Can't stop my hands... from shaking..." he said again, as   
if he didn't realize he'd already said it. Suddenly, he   
cocked his head to the side and stared at her with a strange   
look in his eye. "Nat? What're you doing here?" he asked   
with a sniff, his look of confusion turning into one of   
nausea.   
  
Good lord, he was really out of it... Nat wanted to cry.   
She should've done more tests before giving that awful   
stuff to him... And it was all her fault. She'd done this   
to him...   
  
She enfolded him again in a tight embrace. "Nick, I'm so   
sorry..." she said sincerely as he started to sob in her   
arms again, not caring about what his tears must be doing to   
her white silk blouse.   
  
THE PRESENT  
  
"Oh, Nick..." Nat sighed as she was brought back to the   
present. Tears were streaming down her face at the horrible   
memory, falling softly onto the slide that had so recently   
been the bearer of good news. It was all her fault that   
things had gotten so incredibly out of hand. She   
should've...  
  
"Natalie? Why are you crying, sweetheart?" Grace   
Balthazar's soothing voice interrupted her thoughts, nearly   
startling Nat out of her skin. When had she snuck in? How   
much of that episode had she seen?   
  
Natalie quickly wiped away the tears and turned to face her   
worried friend. "It's nothing, Grace. I must've gotten   
something caught in my eye..." Natalie quickly rushed to   
make an excuse, and for emphasis she raised her left hand,   
rubbing her eye as if something were bothering it. But   
judging from Grace's worried frown, her impromptu acting   
wasn't all that believable.   
  
"Nat, dear, you were crying your eyes out. Don't even think   
about telling me that was just an eye bug..." Grace said,   
crossing her arms in front of her chest in a classic   
'Superman' pose.   
  
"I... I was just remembering something from a long time ago.   
Nothing important..." Natalie hedged, hoping her friend   
would leave it be, but from the look on Grace's face, she   
knew that she wouldn't. Definitely not.   
  
"Nat, it wasn't unimportant if it's making you feel so sad.   
Come on, it'll make you feel better to talk about it..."   
Grace said quietly, guiding Natalie to the chair by her   
cluttered desk and sitting her down in it with a light   
shove.  
  
Natalie looked down at the floor. She was trapped. There   
was no way that Grace was going to let her out of this one.   
She sighed. "Grace..." she began, "Do you remember how Nick   
has a skin condition that makes it so that he can't go out   
in the sunlight?" she asked hesitantly. Of _course_ Grace   
would remember... She doubted anyone who knew Nick could   
ever forget that little detail, it was just a little too   
unusual to forget.   
  
Grace nodded. "How could I not? Why, is this about Nick?"   
she asked curiously.   
  
Nat sniffled a little bit and before she knew it a tissue   
had magically appeared in front of her eyes. Graciously   
accepting the proffered item, she continued. "Sort of.   
It's just that... I've been trying to find a cure for him   
for years, and now I think I may have found one..."   
  
Grace's face brightened up like a hundred watt light bulb.   
"Nat, honey, that's wonderful! But then why..." her voice   
trailed off again as Natalie gave a little sob.   
  
"But see, Grace... I just..." Nat sighed. How to explain   
this without going into too many details? Without revealing   
Nick's secret? "Last time I thought I had found a cure it   
ended in a big disappointment, and Nick really got hurt..."   
  
Grace got a serious look on her face. "How so?" she   
questioned.   
  
"The drug I tried had some unforeseen side effects. Nick   
got incredibly paranoid, and pretty soon he was shooting   
the stuff up hourly. He was addicted, Grace..." her voice   
involuntarily trailed off until she saw Grace's nod of   
encouragement that simply seemed to say, 'keep going, Nat,   
you need to talk about this'.   
  
Natalie continued. "And when I discovered that the   
so-called cure I had found was just masking the symptoms   
of his disease instead of actually curing him, he went off   
the deep end... I... I don't know if I could put him   
through that again..." Nat couldn't take it any more. She   
started to sob, not caring that Grace was here to see her   
in probably one of her weakest moments.   
  
"Oh, honey!" Grace exclaimed softly. "Shhh, don't cry.   
Maybe I can help you work through this..."   
  
Nat's tears briefly subsided and she nodded. Any help   
would be great. Anything at all. She didn't really have   
anyone to talk to about Nick, except Schanke. And well, it   
just wasn't the same as having a girlfriend to discuss   
things with. This was as close as she'd ever get to having   
a really open conversation.   
  
"Does Nick know you've started working on a cure again?"   
Grace asked.   
  
Nat shook her head. "We've sort of talked about trying to   
cure him again. He's been trying all our old plans like   
dietary supplements and vitamin pills... But... I haven't   
told him I've been researching more drugs for him to try."   
  
"And you're not sure you want to tell him about this one,   
even if it may work, because you don't want another   
failure?" Grace summarized, making sure that she knew all   
the details.  
  
Nat nodded mutely, almost ashamed that she was getting so   
worked up over a seemingly easy to solve problem.   
  
"Oh, Natalie..." Grace exclaimed, compassion filling her   
voice. "Don't you think that's his decision to make   
though? He can always say no, but if you don't give him   
that choice, you'll spend your life wondering 'What if that   
_had_ worked?'"   
  
"Yeah, Grace... I suppose your right. But... It's   
just... so..." she paused while searching for the right   
word, "complicated." Complicated was probably   
oversimplifying matters a bit, but it served as an adequate   
generalization.   
  
"Nat, with guys like Nick, it always is," Grace said with a   
teasing smile and Nat couldn't help but smile back. Nick   
was an enigma, even to her sometimes. And with the   
exception of herself, and possibly Schanke, she doubted   
anyone would ever truly understand him. Not in a million   
years.   
  
Nat smiled again, surprised at how much better she felt,   
simply from relating her problem to someone else. "Thanks,   
Grace. Thanks for making me talk. I think I'll discuss   
this with him tonight after work," she commented softly.   
  
"Anytime, Nat. Free of charge!" Grace said with a wink as   
she gestured with a quick flit of her hand and sauntered out   
of the office.   
  
Nat grinned at her friend's joking manner, but as Grace   
quietly shut the door behind her, her grin fell into a tiny   
frown as she thought about her decision. After work. After   
work, she would drop the bombshell.   
  
*****  
  
//His power and glory ever more proclaim.  
  
Clapping flooded through the precinct as the last strains of   
O Holy Night died into the background. "Bravo!" Schanke   
screamed, and then he started clapping furiously as other   
fellow officers stood up to join him. The Christmas carols   
had been a welcome relief by practically everyone in the   
precinct, those who celebrated Christmas and those who   
didn't. The cheer they provided transcended specific   
religious sects.   
  
Nick gave a reluctant, wry smile as Schanke stood and gave   
his daughter's choir group a standing ovation. Cohen had   
reluctantly allowed them to sing two songs for the precinct,   
knowing that it would brighten up the very gloomy in-the-  
proximity-of-a-holiday night shift. Jenny, standing in the   
front row in her heavy red parka and woolen mittens, blushed   
enough to match her coat. Schanke wisely sat down and   
turned his eyes towards a suddenly very interesting paper on   
his desk.   
  
Nick placed his head in his hands and sighed. Christmas.   
This time of year had always been so... painful. It had   
always reminded him that he was alone. But now, things   
were different. He had Natalie. And he wanted it to be   
special this year. But how?   
  
"So, Nick," Schanke began, apparently finally noticing that   
his partner didn't look as happy as everyone else did.   
"What's wrong? The carols... They didn't..." Schanke   
glanced left and right as if he were checking to make sure   
no one was watching, "hurt you, did they?" he asked   
seriously.  
  
"Huh?" Nick asked before he finally realized what on Earth   
Schanke was talking about. "No! Nononono, only crosses,   
Schank. And blessed objects. Churches, holy water... But   
the day a Christmas carol kills me will be the day I drink   
one of Nat's protein shakes and like it," he assured his   
worried partner, chuckling in spite of himself.   
  
He had to admire Schanke. He was really trying to get   
everything straight. It had been two months since that   
awful mess with Infaustus, a little over three since he'd   
come back from his year with LaCroix, and ever since then,   
Schanke had been drilling him about every little aspect   
of his vampirism. Schanke wanted to know everything, from   
how fast he could fly, to if he _really_ could turn into   
a bat. _That_, had sent Nick into rolls of laughter, but it   
touched him that Schank had cared enough to ask.   
  
He knew there was a constant effort by Schanke to make him   
feel accepted, and he couldn't thank him more for it. No   
one had ever made him feel so... so... normal.   
  
Nick was broken from his musings when Schanke finally   
responded. "I don't see what's so funny about it... Here   
you coulda been dying a slow death by Christmas carols, and   
you're sitting here laughing about it," Schanke said with   
a smile on his face. Although he was joking Nick could   
detect a small hint of something more underneath... Like   
maybe something like that could actually happen and Schanke   
was afraid...  
  
"Schanke, will you relax? I'm practically indestructible,   
you really don't need to worry..." Nick assured him,   
leaning back into his chair with a complacent grin, but   
practically flying over backwards when the wheels of his   
chair slipped and sent his arms reeling to maintain his   
balance. When he finally regained his equilibrium, Schanke   
was laughing heartily.   
  
"That wasn't funny, Schanke..." he said, feeling a strange   
heat on the skin of his cheeks. If he was capable of   
blushing, which he really wasn't sure of one way or another,   
he was certain that this would be a good indicator.   
  
"Oh, Nick," Schanke stopped as he broke into more gales of   
laughter. "The look on your face..." he managed to get out   
between wheezes. "I'm pretty indestructible," Schanke said   
and thumped his chest, mimicking Nick in his best 'I'm Mr.   
Nick Knight. Supercop extraordinaire' impression.   
  
Nick felt a growl forming in his throat, but he was stopped   
as Jenny came bounding up to them, like her feet were made   
of pogo-sticks and tensely coiled springs. "Daddy!!!" she   
cried gleefully, skidding to a stop just in front of her   
chortling father.   
  
Schanke sat up, finally stopping his monstrous laughter.   
"Hi, pumpkin. Wonderful job, Jenny," he said   
enthusiastically as he gave his daughter a hearty hug. "The   
precinct loved you!"   
  
Jenny's eyes got wide at her dad's sincere compliments.   
"Really?"   
  
Nick took that moment to break in to the conversation. He   
reached over and patted Jenny on the shoulder   
affectionately. "Absolutely! I haven't heard a better   
rendition of O Holy Night since 1872!"   
  
Jenny playfully batted him on the arm. "Awwww, Nick, you   
are _so_ lying! You weren't alive then..." she said with a   
very serious, matter-of-fact tone. It was as if she felt   
herself a teacher on the subject.   
  
"Shoot, you got me..." Nick conceded defeat, even though   
he'd actually been serious. He hadn't thought she'd really   
pay attention to that. "Well at least not since I was a   
kid. And that was in... uh... um... the 1960s. I   
think..." Nick said, scratching his head. When was his   
birthday in this life supposed to be again? So much   
switching around got him pretty mixed up when he tried to   
remember fake dates. He had enough trouble with the real   
ones.  
  
Jenny gave him a big grin and kissed him on the cheek.   
"Well, thanks for the compliment anyway," she said as she   
glanced passed them towards where the others were all   
standing, bundled in their heavy winter coats. "Oops, I've   
gotta go," she said. "Bye, Nick. Bye, Dad!" she cried,   
and then she bounded off towards her friends in what seemed   
like hyperspeed.   
  
Nick all at once felt incredibly old. Had he been that   
hyper when he was a child? He hoped not. It was a wonder   
his mother hadn't killed him if it were so.   
  
He glanced up at Schanke, who was staring at him with a   
smirk. "What?" he asked innocently, but he already had a   
pretty good idea where this was going...   
  
"Oh, come on, Nick! 1872?" Schanke asked sarcastically,   
rolling his eyes.   
  
"Yeah, it was in France..." Nick said, his voice   
subconsciously reverting to his native accent, sighing as he   
began to remember...  
  
"WOAH! Nick! Back the flashback trolley up there. I don't   
need the gory details," Schanke commented as he thwapped   
Nick on the head with a hand roll of papers. He had learned   
that procedure as an almost fail-proof flashback   
annihilator.   
  
Nick shook himself slightly, briefly disoriented by the   
quickly changing centuries. "Sorry," he mumbled   
apologetically. He knew his little habit of flashing back   
to the past was more than just a little annoying. Luckily   
most people just thought he was spacey, rather than   
suffering from perfect recall.   
  
"Seriously, Nick. What was bothering you earlier?" his   
partner questioned him, this time more seriously.   
  
It took Nick a moment to get back to the original subject of   
their conversation. "Oh, I don't know. I was kinda trying   
to figure out how I'm going to make this Christmas special   
for me and Nat..." he glanced over at Schanke only to see   
his partner staring at him with a wicked gleam in his eye.   
"Schank... That's not what I meant..." Nick hastily   
explained.   
  
"Sure, partner... Sure..." Schanke assured him, albeit with   
the most scheming tone Nick had ever heard. "Seriously   
though? You've got two weeks. Fourteen whole days, and at   
least you don't have a nine-year-old to shop for. I'm sure   
you'll think of something."   
  
"Yeah, well, I'm sure coming up blank right now..." Nick   
sighed wistfully as he wracked his brain for ideas.   
Anything would suffice at this point.   
  
"I'd suggest that you volunteer to do the laundry and the   
dishes for a week. Women always like that," Captain Cohen   
said seriously as she walked up, only her slight smile   
betraying the fact that she was amused by her star   
detectives' discussion.   
  
Nick and Schanke sat up straight and at attention the moment   
their superior officer interrupted the conversation.   
"Sorry, Captain. We really were working on paperwork..."   
Schanke began an actually reasonable sounding excuse, wildly   
searching his desk for _any_ partially filled out form that   
would back him up, but Cohen raised her hand to shut him up.   
  
"Boys, relax. I just came to let you know that you'll be   
getting an associate to work with for the next few days.   
She just arrived and is sitting in my office as we speak,"   
Cohen told them, waiting for the explosion. This had the   
potential to not go over well.   
  
"Associate?" Nick questioned somewhat suspiciously at the   
same time that Schanke squeaked, "She?!"   
  
"She's here from higher up. Consider it an evaluation of   
our police department. I decided to stick her with my best   
pair of detectives," Cohen tried to assure them, hoping   
that this wasn't a mistake. They already looked plenty   
apprehensive.   
  
"Yes, consider me that, if you will..."   
  
Nick and Schanke both turned at the interruption, and upon   
a quick glance, Nick couldn't help but wonder if Schanke's   
mouth could drop any farther. It already looked like he'd   
disconnected his jaw from his skull. "Schanke, close your   
mouth," he whispered out of the side of his mouth, trying   
not to make it appear obvious that he'd said anything.   
  
"Gentlemen, meet Alihra Dale," the Captain gestured to the   
stunning woman who had just appeared before them. Stunning.   
That was an understatement.   
  
She was about 5'9", clothed in a rather striking black   
business suit. Her waist-length, jet-black hair was pulled   
back into a smooth black ponytail, pulled so tightly that it   
looked like a skull-cap. She was thin, but not too thin   
like the sickly looking models that frequented the fashion   
runways. This was a healthy-looking thin. And her skin, it   
was the color of smooth, milk-chocolate. Very tan, almost   
Indian-looking. But not quite.   
  
Nick couldn't help but stare. Her eyes, though, they were   
the most striking he'd ever seen. The irises were a deep   
emerald green, with streaks of gold clawing outward from   
the pupils, all of which were framed by the fullest looking   
set of eyelashes he'd ever seen. They looked... almost   
feline. Animal...   
  
He looked in those eyes... and he was lost. Lost in the   
depths. He swallowed hard as he felt himself drowning in   
those endless pools of green. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.   
The sound of her deliciously mortal heart was drumming in   
his ears like a raging thunder, and all he could think   
about was her warm blood running down his throat.   
Delicious... He licked his lips in anticipation.   
  
And suddenly, he was back in the precinct. He shook his   
head, disoriented. What on Earth had happened? That had   
been downright strange... He looked at Alihra after   
regaining some equilibrium. Something... There was   
something... wrong... about her... He squinted his eyes   
lightly as he tried to analyze her on sight alone.  
  
"Alihra, this is Detective Nick Knight, and this is   
Detective Don Schanke. You'll be working with them for the   
next few weeks," Cohen said, gesturing in turn to each Nick   
and Schanke with her thin, crisply tanned hand. "I just got   
a call, we've got a bad one. Here are the specifics," Cohen   
said as she handed them a thick manila folder. "Now," she   
added, "I'll just leave you three to get acquainted, and   
then you can all head down to the crime scene. Forensics is   
already there."   
  
With that, Cohen walked off, and Nick almost regretted that   
she had to go. For some reason, he felt like he didn't want   
to be left alone with this mysterious woman... He shook his   
head. He was probably just imagining things. Yes,   
imagining things. That was it.   
  
Alihra gave a wide smile as Cohen departed, showing her   
gorgeous pearly white teeth with no shame. "Uh-LEAR-uh..."   
Schanke tested out her name carefully, shaking her hand as   
she proffered it.   
  
"Yes, Detective, that is correct..." she confirmed with a   
slight accent. Although for the life of him, Nick couldn't   
quite place its origin. Definitely middle-eastern, or   
thereabouts.  
  
Schanke swallowed heard. "Don... You can call me Don," he   
squeaked, sounding as if someone was forcing all the air   
out his lungs like an accordion, nearly dropping the manila   
folder that he had been so desperately clinging to since   
Cohen had given it to him.   
  
Alihra smiled again. "All right then," she paused and then   
spit his name out as if it was a difficult thing to say,   
"Don." She then turned to him, and he could feel his throat   
constricting wildly. "And should I call you, Nick?" she   
asked, turning her glance towards Nick.   
  
Nick felt a lump forming steadily in his throat. "Uh, yes,   
that'll be fine," he managed to utter before his voice   
abandoned him. The woman's presence was overwhelming, even   
though it looked like she didn't even notice the effect she   
was having on both him and Schanke.  
  
"So, uh, Alihra, can we call you Ali?" Schanke questioned   
jokingly, trying to lighten the tense mood. Two males on   
testosterone overdrive and one gorgeous woman did not make   
for good conversation.  
  
Her smile faded and her somewhat friendly glance turned to   
a cold stare, her deliciously green eyes on fire. "No, you   
may call me Alihra." And with that, she turned and headed   
towards the door of the precinct, her heels clicking loudly   
on the floor.   
  
Schanke stared at Nick. Nick stared at Schanke. Woah...   
"I didn't think that was such a controversial question, did   
you?" Schanke asked, completely confused. Nick just   
shrugged. That had been the most bizarre encounter he'd   
ever had...   
  
Shaking their heads slightly, they both quickly grabbed   
their coats and raced out the door after Ms. Dale, hoping to   
catch her before she actually left without them. This was   
going to be an interesting night. An interesting one   
indeed.   
  
*****  
  
The Caddy was deafeningly quiet as the three drove to the   
crime scene. Oozing trails of pale vapor trailed out of   
Nick's mouth as he sighed, and hearing Schanke's subtly   
chattering teeth behind him, he cursed himself for not   
remembering to fix the stupid heater. Schanke had been   
complaining about it nonstop since he'd come back, and he   
was sure to hear more of it as soon as Alihra was gone if he  
didn't get it repaired.   
  
Alihra... Nick glanced out of the corner of his eye to   
Alihra, who was sitting in Schanke's usual spot, seemingly   
unaffected by the bitter chill. Despite the nervousness   
instilled in him by the situation, he smiled. She'd usurped   
Schanke's supreme reign of 'shotgun' and Schanke hadn't had   
the guts to tell her that she should sit in the back.  
  
"So why exactly _are_ you here?" Schanke asked innocently   
from the backseat, apparently trying to get a conversation   
started. Nick chose to remain silent and not join in. He   
didn't want to talk with this woman if he could help it.   
There was something that just didn't rub right about her.   
Not at all. And it bothered him immensely.   
  
"I believe Captain Cohen said I was here to observe..."   
Alihra said absently, never tearing her catlike eyes from   
the road passing by beneath them. It was as if she felt   
above them in some way, like they had no business   
questioning her motives.  
  
"Uhhh, can you be a tad more specific?" Schanke prodded,   
gesturing with his thumb and index finger to indicate a   
small amount, but to no avail.   
  
"No," she said tersely, smiling arrogantly when she looked   
in the rearview mirror to see Schanke's stunned expression.   
Nick felt himself growing angry at her rudeness, and his lip   
began to quiver slightly from the effort it took to   
suppress a growl. Even if she was their superior, she had   
no right to treat them the way she was. No right!   
  
He found himself taking several deep breaths just to control   
himself. His fingers clenched the steering wheel   
desperately, his knuckles turning white from the intense   
pressure. With great effort, he loosened his hold so as to   
save his precious steering wheel. And despite the rage   
gnawing at his mind, he wisely remained silent.   
  
"Well... So where are you from? You have a most unusual   
accent..." Nick raised an eyebrow, surprised that Schanke   
had even noticed that, it was very subtle.   
  
Alihra ignored his question and turned to Nick with a face   
of stone. No emotion. It was if she wasn't human. "Tell   
me, Nick," she paused at his name, saying it   
condescendingly with a slight curl of her lip, "How do you   
feel right now?" Her voice was sickly sweet, like an   
overripe nectarine, and it almost made him nauseous.   
  
"Pardon?" Nick asked, unsure as to what on Earth this   
mysterious woman was getting at. This was disconcerting,   
not being in control of the conversation for once. With   
mortals, he'd always felt safe from their prying, and yet,   
with this woman, he not only felt compelled to answer, he   
found himself actually getting fearful.   
  
Alihra attempted to clarify, sighing slightly before she   
began again, "How do you feel, knowing that you are about   
to start a murder case?"  
  
That was an odd question... "Sad, I guess... That people   
are terrible enough sometimes that they wind up killing   
each other..." he answered, somewhat truthfully. He could   
see Schanke nodding minutely in agreement through the   
rearview mirror, but the look on Alihra's face was not one   
of agreement at all.   
  
"Do you not feel exhilarated, knowing that a hunt is about   
to begin?" she asked seriously, his previous answer not   
satisfying her for some reason.   
  
At the undercurrent of passion in her voice, Nick felt his   
heart freeze in his chest. God, yes. That's how he always   
felt, not that he ever told anyone about it. And here, this   
exotic woman who had walked into his life not an hour before   
had hit him right on the mark. It was as if this woman knew   
him from the inside out, more so than he knew himself, and   
his mind began clawing wildly for answers. Who was she? "I   
don't..." he struggled to speak, "I don't see what you're   
driving at..." he lied weakly.   
  
And she knew. She knew he was lying. The look on her face   
confirmed it. He swallowed hard, trying to shrink back into   
the seat and out of her wicked gaze. "Yes, you do," Alihra   
whispered, her voice deep and rich. Threatening. "That is   
why you do this job. You like the power you feel when you   
catch your offender. It gives you a rush... A thrill..."   
Her voice grew a strained edge to it, and it sounded almost   
like she was commanding him to feel that way, not that he   
needed her prodding.   
  
Oh, yes... The rush... The adrenaline... The power...   
That was what it was about. That was always what it was   
about. If he could atone at the same time as feeding his   
desires, all the better, but they were always there, under   
the surface, no matter how he tried to equate it with making   
up for his past sins.   
  
Nick clenched his teeth as he felt himself start to pant,   
not able to stop himself from licking his lips. He thought   
in detail about what was to come, the chase, the tracking,   
like a game of hide-and-seek with deliciously exhilarating   
consequences. The vampire screamed inside him for release.   
Let the hunt begin NOW! Closing his eyes briefly, although   
not long enough to jeopardize his passengers, he inhaled as   
fully as he could. "No..." he denied her words hoarsely,   
suddenly becoming very hungry.  
  
She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, but thankfully,   
they had arrived at their destination before she could   
respond to his blatant lie. "Oh, look... We're here," he   
sighed, his voice dripping with relief. God, anything to   
get away from this woman. This woman who had basically   
sifted through his entire soul in mere minutes.   
  
All three got out of the car and into the bitter cold   
simultaneously, resounding thuds following in quick   
succession as three car doors harshly slammed shut. Schanke   
was looking at the two of them strangely, but Nick chose to   
ignore it in favor of beginning the investigation as quickly   
as possible. The faster it began, the faster it would be   
over, and the faster Alihra would be gone.  
  
The alley was teaming with forensics crews. Nick walked   
deliberately through the crowd, not caring that he'd left   
his partner adrift behind with _her_. Finally free of her   
strange arrogance and eerie gaze, he looked around and took   
in his surroundings.  
  
The alley was small, probably only about six feet wide,   
maybe seven. Red brick walls rose above the white concrete,   
making it cave-like and claustrophobic. No streetlights   
graced the walkway at all, the only illumination being   
provided by the forensics crews so that the alley could be   
thoroughly searched and whatnot. Luckily, even though the   
alley was still dim by mortal standards, he was quite at   
home and able to see from the alley's mouth all the way to   
where it ended about fifteen yards down in a heaping pile of   
trash.   
  
He searched the crowd, sweeping his eyes over the dozen or   
so people milling about. Smiling when he caught sight of   
her, he strode towards his favorite coroner with a sudden   
purpose. "Natalie!" he called, not caring that people saw   
him acting so informal with her. He wasn't hiding anymore.   
Everyone from here to Timbuktu knew about their   
relationship, and he wasn't going to do anything to hide it.   
He was through hiding, at least with this...   
  
She turned slightly upon hearing her name called, but the   
look on her face was filled with a quiet tension, not the   
pleasure he would've expected. Worry lines creased her   
delicate forehead as she tried to bury herself further in   
the warmth of he brown, ankle length coat and he immediately   
rushed over. "Nat, what is it?" he questioned her, his   
tone betraying his sudden worry.   
  
"Nick, you'd better take a look at this," she gestured   
towards the body, her voice tired, wavering slightly as she   
pointed downwards. No hi, no hello, just a gesture towards   
the cold, very dead man on the ground.   
  
"Nat?" he questioned as he snapped on some rubber gloves   
automatically and looked down. And then he froze. The   
body was splayed on the ground like a rag doll, the head   
turned towards the pavement and the right shoulder pointing   
skyward, in a perfect angle for him to view the pale neck   
of the victim.  
  
There were two neat little puncture marks right on top of   
the jugular where the base of the neck met the shoulder.   
He gasped. "And I can't tell when it happened either.   
It's too damn cold out, and it's screwing with my   
calculations. Nick, what should I do? I haven't seen one   
of these since... well since before you left!" she sighed,   
obviously frustrated.   
  
"Just say it was a wild animal, Nat. I'll find the one who   
did this, just leave that to me..." he started to say, his   
mind filling with rage all over again. Stupid fledglings.   
That's who left bodies out carelessly like this. It   
sickened him. He was almost into a tirade when he noticed   
that Nat was not really saying anything.   
  
"Nat?" He hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead,   
ignoring the smiles from several nearby peoples who were   
_obviously_ not watching them... "Nat, what's the matter?   
Don't worry, I _will_ take care of this..." he assured her,   
confused as to what had upset her so.  
  
"I need to talk with you, Nick. After work, come back to   
the loft right away, ok?" He felt himself practically melt   
as he saw Nat's large blue eyes searching his own hopefully.   
  
"Sure, Nat," he said, slightly confused. What could   
possibly be so important? He was about to ask her why when   
Schanke and Alihra walked up.   
  
"Jeez, Nick. You could've waited for us, you know!"   
Schanke said with a murderous glare. He'd apparently felt   
the same way about Alihra that Nick did. "Anyway, I checked   
around while you were courting our dear coroner. Harry   
McKenzie. 32. Single. No witnesses to the actual murder,   
but we know that he left to go on a smoking break at around   
two A.M. He left quite alive. And now, he's very dead..."   
Schanke trailed off under Nick's glare of death. "What?"   
he asked, slightly miffed.   
  
Nick just pointed to the neck of the victim. Luckily,   
Schanke got it immediately and no clarifying was necessary,   
not that he could've said anything with Alihra standing   
right there. "Oh," Schanke said quietly, looking slightly   
worried at the direction this case was taking. This was   
the first vampire kill he'd ever seen with the prior   
knowledge that vampires existed.   
  
Alihra looked down at the victim as well. "What, I don't   
see anything..." she commented while she stared at the body   
curiously, her voice losing all previous hint of arrogance   
and being replaced by utter inquisitiveness... "What's   
that, did a dog bite the guy or something?" she asked, with   
all the innocence of a two year old.  
  
Natalie took this moment to step in, clearing her throat.   
"Animal attack. Probably a rabid dog, we should notify   
animal control... But I can't guarantee anything until I've   
done the autopsy. Which won't be until... tomorrow, since   
the shift is almost over..." she said absently, glancing   
down at her watch.   
  
Nick was stunned. She wasn't going to stay overtime to do   
the autopsy? Not that she really needed to do one, the   
cause of death was obvious, at least to three out of four   
members of the party. Whatever she had to talk about back   
at the loft must be pretty damned important... Oh God, what   
if she was ill? Dying? What if she was going to break up   
with him... His mind started playing through all sorts of   
terrible news when Nat's voice brought him back to the   
present.   
  
"Nick, hellooooo?" Her hand was waving in front of his   
face. She hadn't the heart to thwap him with stuff like   
Schanke did... He blinked as she continued. "Are you going   
to introduce me to your new friend?" Nat said, looking at   
Alihra with a slight look of... What, was it curiosity?   
  
Friend!? That was a laugh... He recovered himself from his   
musings to issue a rather reluctant introduction. "Uh,   
Natalie, meet Alihra Dale. She's observing us. Alihra,   
meet Dr. Natalie Lambert," Nick said, sweeping his hands   
between the two.   
  
"Hello, Dr. Lambert," Alihra said sweetly as she took her   
hand into a firm grasp. "It's good to meet Nick's   
significant other."  
  
Nick nearly choked. Significant other? It was true... but   
he hadn't told her. He looked at Schanke, who just   
shrugged. He was as in the dark as Nick was.   
  
Natalie's eyes darted back and forth between Alihra and   
Nick suspiciously, and then to Schanke. "Hi..." she said   
warily, but her voice trailed off as she stared into   
Alihra's eyes. It was like she was being hypnotized, and   
Nick watched in astonishment as she just kind of froze there   
for a second before quickly withdrawing her hand. "Well,   
uh, Alihra. Nice to meet you... Nick, it's almost sunrise.   
You should get going..." she said distractedly, prodding him   
slightly with her hands, but more with the worried look in   
her eyes.   
  
"Yes. Yes I should..." he confirmed. Now that he was   
paying attention to it, Nick could feel the tingling   
sensation in his head that meant the sun was sure to rise   
shortly. He looked at Nat. "You'll catch up to me?" he   
asked quietly. Upon receiving her nod, he looked to   
Schanke. "C'mon Schanke, Alihra. Unless you have something   
else that you need to do here, I'll drive you back to the   
precinct."   
  
Schanke nodded. "Sure, Nick. That won't be cutting it too   
close will it?"   
  
Alihra looked at him quizzically and started before Nick   
could answer, "It's still an hour until sunrise. Unless his   
allergy kicks in in indirect light, it shouldn't be a   
problem," she stated matter-of-factly, looking over to him   
with a gaze that simply screamed, 'just try and prove me   
wrong!'   
  
Nick was dumbfounded. He'd never told her about his   
'allergy'. Again he looked to Schanke and again he received   
a shrug. This woman... She knew things that she wasn't   
supposed to know... He looked at her strangely, but was   
nearly knocked flat when she returned his gaze dead on with   
a smile.   
  
His blood went cold. She knew. Somehow, she knew about   
him. No, her reaction to the body that'd been found was too   
naive. She couldn't know. Could she?   
  
He would have to look into this. But now was not the time.  
  
*****  
  
Natalie tapped her foot anxiously as the lift engaged and   
began its slow trek up to the second floor of Nick's   
building. Why did this thing have to be so slow? She was   
practically ready to jump out of her skin by the time the   
thing finally lumbered into place.  
  
With a mighty heave, she slid the lift door aside only to   
be greeted by the sight of Nick, pacing restlessly by the   
stairs like a impatient lion. "Nat!" he cried as she came   
into the bleak expanse of the loft. "I've been waiting   
since the sun came up, what took you so long?" he asked   
rather harshly, looking irritated that she'd not arrived   
as promptly as he obviously had.   
  
Nat, surprised, glanced at her watch. "Nick, it's only   
fifteen minutes after sunrise... I had some quick   
paperwork to fill out on the body. You know standard   
procedure," she answered defensively. She'd come home as   
quickly as she could, and that would have to be good enough   
for him.   
  
Nick sighed, and she saw his tense shoulders give way into   
a slump as he brought his pained eyes to look into hers. "I   
know, I'm sorry," he apologized quickly, but the strain in   
his voice was still very evident. "I just got worried when   
you told me that you really needed to talk. Please, what is   
it?" he pleaded, walking up to her and giving her a quick   
hug and a kiss.   
  
She chuckled. "Nick, I'm sorry, it's not anything bad. At   
least, I didn't think it would be," she commented softly,   
returning his hug and guiding him towards his big, black   
leather couch. They needed to sit for this talk. She   
lightly shoved him down onto the sofa and then sat herself   
down next to him.   
  
Taking a deep breath, she looked at him only to find him   
watching her expectantly. "Nick, I think I may have found   
a possible cure," she stated bluntly, knowing that it would   
be no use to slowly build up to the news.   
  
His jaw dropped open. "Nat, I didn't know you were working   
on a cure, aside from the protein shakes I mean..." he   
exclaimed, slightly suspicious.   
  
She stopped him and attempted to explain before he thought   
too much about her secrecy and got angry at it. They had a   
very open relationship, and she knew it would bug him   
immensely that she'd kept this from him, especially since it   
wasn't just a little tiny secret. "I didn't want to get   
your hopes up," she admitted softly. "I _still_ don't, but   
the only way I can go any further with this is to try it out   
on you."   
  
"But... I'm not sure if I'm really up to being guinea pig   
again..." he said cautiously. Normally he would've jumped   
at the chance, but lately, Nat had found that he was getting   
more and more wary as each cure was tried and failed. He'd   
tried drugs like Lidovuterine and ended with disastrous   
results, he'd tried supernatural cures and ended with the   
same. The more he tried, the more he doubted. And the more   
he doubted, the less he was willing to try. It was as if   
his hope was slowly being crushed.   
  
"Nick, this is a lot like the Lidovuterine," she paused when   
she saw his wince. That was still a sore spot with him.   
For months after taking the Lidovuterine, he still had   
little withdrawal attacks. Cold sweats, stomach pain, the   
works. Like an ex-smoker who had to deal with the   
occasional urge to light up and take a drag, except to the   
point that it made him occasionally ill. And although she   
hadn't seen anything like it since he'd come back from   
LaCroix, she suspected the addiction was still there, lying   
under the surface, waiting for the right moment to pop up.   
  
"It's different though. The Lidovuterine wasn't nearly as   
effective on your blood samples as this stuff, and it's   
lacking in the psychotropic chemicals that the Lidovuterine   
had. I don't think it'll have the same effect mentally, but   
physically it looks like it'll pack much more of a bang."   
  
"More bang?" Nick questioned cautiously. He was obviously   
getting more interested in this as time went on, but he was   
still in no way ready to commit.   
  
"Well, when I added the Lidovuterine to your blood samples,   
the vampire element was kind of... well it just   
disappeared. It was dormant. Hidden. The Lyzatrex, that's   
the drug I've found, seems to actually attack your extra   
nucleotides and it destroys them. That way, you won't have   
to worry about dormant nucleotides becoming active again,"   
she explained, trying desperately not to lapse into her   
erudite 'medical-speak' that always left him clueless and   
completely confused.  
  
"Attacks them? That sounds like it would hurt..." he   
whispered with a slightly fearful edge. Nat could tell that   
he still remembered painful application of the Lidovuterine   
all too well.   
  
"I can't say that it won't hurt, but we can try it in small   
doses at first until we're sure of how much you can safely   
tolerate. I would suggest using it in conjunction with   
curare, but if we kill the vampire element in your blood,   
the curare would kill you the second you became mortal," she   
said bluntly, only realizing how blunt when she saw him   
cringe.   
  
She rushed to continue. "But Nick, I won't make the same   
mistakes I did last time. I'll monitor you much more   
closely, and I certainly won't let you take the Lyzatrex   
with you this time... I really think this might work if we   
give it a try and we're careful about it. Lord knows I   
don't want a repeat of the last time any more than you   
do..."   
  
"Ok."   
  
"And now that Schanke's in on your secret, we can have him   
help. At the first sign of any trouble we can..." she found   
her voice trailing off as she processed what he had just   
said. "Wait. Did you just say ok?" she asked, completely   
surprised by his sudden acquiescence.   
  
Nick smiled, giving her a goofy, lopsided grin. "Nat, I   
trust you. If you think it's worth a try, then I'll do it,"   
he said seriously and then he added, "I don't blame you for   
the Lidovuterine, and despite the disastrous results, that   
was as close as I've ever gotten to being mortal. Doesn't   
that saying go something like, 'try, try again?'" he asked   
her playfully.   
  
"But..." she felt herself starting to protest.   
  
"Or was that, 'no pain, no gain...'" he said, looking up as   
though he were deep in thought, grasping for more cliched   
quotes.  
  
"But..." she said like a broken record.  
  
"Nat, I said yes. That's what you wanted, right?" She   
nodded slowly in response. "Well then quite arguing with   
me!" he stated, giving her a playful punch in the arm.   
  
"Ok," Nat said dreamily. He'd actually said yes. This had   
been easier than she had first thought. "If we leave early   
for work tomorrow, I can administer the first dose   
tomorrow..." her voice trailed off as Nick took her into an   
abrupt, yet very passionate kiss.  
  
"Nat..." he mumbled between kisses as he pulled away from   
her lips and started trailing his lips down her pale neck,   
"Why don't you explain the details later. I can think of   
much better ways to spend the morning..."  
  
She moaned softly as he caressed her, and her skin felt like   
it was on fire. "Hmmm-mmm," she agreed quietly as he began   
to remove her shirt gently. There was a very light thud as   
her garment leapt from his fingers and onto the floor, but   
she didn't really notice. She was too enraptured to care.  
  
*****   
  
Nick sat down heavily into Nat's chair, wrinkling his nose   
as the smell of formaldehyde wafted through his sensitive  
nostrils. He sighed, trying to ignore his growing sense of   
unease. Nat was tapping a syringe lightly with her index   
finger to get the air bubbles out, and he watched with a   
leery gaze as the dim fluorescent lighting transformed Nat's   
office into something out of a mad scientist's laboratory.   
  
"Are you sure you want to do this, Nick?" Nat asked   
doubtfully, her questioning eyes noticing that he'd begun to   
tremble a little bit.   
  
He nodded mutely, but the sense of unease grew from a mere   
nagging sensation in the back of his mind, to a panic of   
sorts. He felt an increasing sensation of being trapped, a   
cold feeling enveloping his heart like the walls were   
closing in around him and he had no way to escape. True,   
he'd agreed quite readily last night, but now he wasn't so   
sure. Not at all. Was he really ready to try this again?   
Was he really ready for the pain? The disappointment? The   
failure?   
  
The last time hadn't worked, except to give him a bunch of   
unnecessary pain and heartache. The last time... His chest   
giving a mighty heave, he sighed restlessly as he began to   
remember...  
  
FLASHBACK - TORONTO 1995  
  
The pain was incredible. Explosions of color flooded his   
vision like a flamboyant bouquet of fireworks, and all at   
once he was so hot he was freezing. Sweat dripped down his   
brow as the agony raced through his tortured nerves and he   
began to shake spasmodically. This was worse than any time   
before, and yet he wanted it more than anything. He needed   
it to the point his very being was screaming for it. For   
sanctuary from his explosive bloodlust.  
  
More. His lip twitched in readiness. He needed more, the   
vampire was still alive within him, quivering in his chest   
as it protested weakly against the onslaught of the drug.   
  
With trembling hand and panting breath, he drew up another   
syringe from the vial of Lidovuterine and closed his eyes.   
Pain, sweet pain. All over again he collapsed to the floor   
and screamed as the toxic serum saturated his system.   
Muscles tensing, nerves rapidly firing, he felt his stomach   
begin to object and flutter about crazily, but he was too   
wild with delirious agony to care.   
  
Peace. Calm.   
  
He began to laugh as the euphoria swept over him and took   
him into its clutches, the pain washing away on a receding   
riptide. He sighed as his body went limp and relaxed. So   
completely spent, he couldn't even lift himself off his   
cold, wooden floor and into a suitable chair.   
  
"Nick!" The roll of thunder peeled through his head, and   
it felt like his innards were being ripped to pieces.   
  
He rolled his head over towards the sound invading his   
private nirvana. The room was so incredibly bright, like   
staring into an eclipse. Squinting, he tried to identify   
the blurry form standing above him like a weeping angel.   
"Nat?" he mumbled as she placed a cold hand on his sweat-  
slicked forehead.   
  
"Nick... You've got a fever. You took it again, didn't   
you..." It was a statement more than a question. One that   
carried great disappointment as well as guilt. She blamed   
herself...  
  
Laughing, he looked around at the kaleidoscope of colors.   
"I... I guess I did..." he said, not quite sure if he had   
or not. Although that would explain why he felt so relaxed   
and yet so deliciously awful at the same time. "I needed   
it," he stated with a snide curl of his lip, a cruel inhuman   
tone in his voice. And yet, at the same time, he knew that   
what he'd said wasn't true. It was only causing him pain...   
  
"Nick! This is a psychotropic drug! You do _not_ need it!"   
she cried, the sound ringing through his ears along with the   
racing beat of his own laboring heart.   
  
He blinked. And then the nausea raced up from behind and   
claimed him without any warning at all. He rolled over   
slightly and vomited blood all over himself until he was   
trembling. Until he had nothing left. No strength, no   
dignity, nothing. What had he become? How had he   
allowed this to happen?   
  
He let out a sob as Nat began to cry. But he was too weak   
to do much else.   
  
THE PRESENT  
  
Nick shook himself from the awful memory, gasping at the   
horrid nightmare that had become his life. God, he didn't   
want to be like that again. He didn't. Not in a million   
years.   
  
"Nick? Are you ready?" Nat asked for his confirmation, the   
syringe ready for its intended use. The silence broken, he   
looked down and noticed for the first time that she'd   
already tied off his arm with a piece of latex tubing.   
  
He stared at the needle, which was dripping slightly, and he   
couldn't help but swallow hard. A small bead of bloodsweat   
trailed down the side of his forehead in a lazy, winding   
path, and Nat saw it almost instantly, hastily wiping it   
away with a latex gloved hand.   
  
"Nick, if you have any doubts, I don't want to do this," Nat   
stated, placing the dripping syringe on the desk beside him   
for emphasis. He stared at the small needle sitting   
silently on the desk, briefly weighing his options.  
  
"No, Nat. I need to do this. I need to. If not for the   
cure, for my own peace of mind," he responded quietly,   
assuring her that she was doing the right thing. What he   
said _was_ true. This fear needed to be overcome if he and   
Nat were ever going to get anywhere on a cure. It was   
obvious, however, that she was not entirely convinced.   
  
Nat picked up the syringe again, but still looked at him   
doubtfully. "Really, Nat. I'm sure. Just do it," he   
commanded her and then he closed his eyes, not able to   
watch.   
  
He felt the prick of the needle, but everything else was   
a blur. "Well?" Nat was saying anxiously, but he couldn't   
bring himself to respond. There was already a dull ache   
in his veins and he felt it escalating with alarming   
swiftness. An ache. A twang. A shooting pain. And then   
it was unadulterated agony.   
  
Through the intensifying roar, he heard himself cry out, and   
he could feel Nat's arms enclose him in a safe cocoon, but   
the rest was waterfalls of sensation. Skin crawling, rapid   
panting, sweating brow... Trying to ride it out, he   
clenched his teeth and rested his head against Nat's   
supportive shoulder, her soothing hand running through his   
dampened hair, combing out his mussy blond mane as he   
writhed painfully in her grip.  
  
Help... Help me! He wanted to scream through the abyss and   
the chasms of blackness that bit at his consciousness. Stop   
it! And amazingly, it did. Taking a deep breath as the   
pain went fleeting away as quickly as it had come, he   
realized he was quaking. Only Nat's strong grasp had kept   
him upright. "Nat?" he asked shakily, making sure that he   
wasn't just imagining things. That she _was_ there.   
  
"Nick... How do you feel?" she asked, her voice strained.   
As painful as that had been for him, he was certain it had   
been worse for her to watch, knowing that he was inflicting   
such pain upon himself at her suggestion.   
  
He lifted his head up and immediately regretted it, the   
dizziness completely disorienting him until he barely knew   
which way was up. "I feel... weird..." he said weakly,   
biting back a light wave of nausea. He didn't really know   
how he felt, except that whatever it was, it most certainly   
wasn't right.  
  
"Define weird..." she stated cautiously, her eyes narrowing   
slightly at his lacking description..   
  
How was he supposed to define weird? That was a good   
question. "I feel... not mortal. But not vampire... I...   
I don't know..." he struggled for the correct words to   
describe how he felt, still confused as to what was going   
on. Trying to call up the vampire, he found that his fangs   
would not descend. And yet... he could still feel the beast   
slumbering within him, a quiet raging monster just waiting   
to be released. He was startled from his thoughts felt   
something cold sneaking between the buttons of his black   
silk shirt and onto his chest. Looking down, he saw Nat   
gently placing a stethoscope on his left pectoral muscle.   
  
"Well, your heart is beating really slow, but much faster   
than it should be. Take a deep breath and let it out   
slowly..." He complied, growing worried when she said   
nothing.   
  
"Again." He did so and again was greeted with silence.   
Opening his mouth to ask what was up, he was quite startled   
when a thermometer was relentlessly shoved into his mouth   
and all that he managed to utter was a smothered "hmmpff!"   
  
He sighed frustratedly and repositioned it more carefully   
underneath his tongue. After several moments, Nat pulled   
the confounded device out of his mouth and read the liquid   
crystal display with a look of such dire seriousness that he   
almost felt like laughing. She was treating this like some   
monumental experiment that the fate of the entire world was   
riding upon. "Your temperature is up quite a bit, still not   
human norm. How do you feel now?" she asked, concerned at   
the readings she was getting.   
  
Nick stood up experimentally and tested his balance,   
relieved to find that the ground was still indeed the   
ground, and that he wasn't going to be joining it anytime   
soon due to a misplaced step. "I feel fine, I think," he   
commented absently as he checked himself over.   
  
"You _think_?" Natalie questioned doubtfully.   
  
"Well, I don't feel sick or anything, and I'm definitely   
not as... well... high as I was with the Lidovuterine...   
But I'm not a good person to ask, seeing as how I haven't   
even caught a measly little cold in over seven hundred   
years..." he responded, slightly annoyed that she was   
grilling him like this, although he couldn't blame her.   
She was being careful to avoid a repeat of least time.   
  
"Look, Nat," he said, glancing at his watch, "It's getting   
late. Why don't I go to work? I'll have Schanke keep an   
eye on me if it'll make you feel better. I need to follow   
up on this vampire kill before it gets out of hand."  
  
Nat smiled wryly and reluctantly agreed . "I guess you can,   
but you have to _promise_ me that you'll go home if you feel   
_anything_ wrong and call me _immediately_. I do _not_ want   
a repeat of last time," she stated warily, tapping his lips   
with her index finger for emphasis.  
  
"Neither do I, Nat." He sighed, kissing her softly on the   
lips and then repeating, "Neither do I."   
  
Nat parted from his comforting embrace and gave him a wide   
grin. "Well fine, but don't leave before I take a blood   
sample..." She said, a wicked smile invading her face as   
her alter-ego evil Dr. Nat took over.  
  
He grimaced and hastily backed away from her possessive   
gaze. "Another needle?" he whined, knowing that he was   
sounding like a child, but not caring.   
  
"Absolutely. How else are you going to earn the nickname   
Mr. Pincushion?" she asked, advancing upon him and virtually   
pinning him to the door of the nearby fridge.   
  
He laughed as Nat yanked on the lapels of his shirt and   
pulled him into a mind-blowing kiss, knowing that pincushion   
was soon to be an understatement.   
  
*****   
  
Schanke stared at the desk twiddling his thumbs impatiently,   
tapping his pencil furiously, shuffling back and forth   
between incomplete reports, doing whatever he could think of   
to pass the time. For once, it was Nick, and not him who   
was late. He looked across the room to see Cohen glaring at   
him, but all he could do was shrug helplessly and smile.   
Nick hadn't told him anything was up, so for all intents and   
purposes, he _should_ be there. Nick just didn't keep   
secrets about his whereabouts anymore, it was much easier   
for Nick to just let him know where he was going, rather   
than get all mysterious-like.   
  
He impatiently glanced once again at his watch.   
Thirty minutes late now. Glancing at his Captain standing   
in silent vigil across the bullpen, he grimaced. Cohen   
would be on the warpath soon. And he just knew that he   
would be caught in the middle of the battle zone, drowning   
in the blood-soaked trenches right along with Nick.  
  
Well, at least Alihra wasn't due in for another half-hour.   
Damn, but that woman was creepy. Like Nick in the sense   
that she had a certain air of power about her. Alihra was   
definitely not a woman he would ever want to cross. She   
took things very seriously, and her sense of humor was   
nonexistent at best, almost like pre-disappearance Nick,   
who had at least loosened up once he no longer had a secret   
to hide. But where she lacked in endearing personality, she   
was quite well endowed in looks.  
  
She was probably the finest specimen of woman that he'd   
seen in a long, long time. A _long_ time. When he had   
first looked into her beautiful face, he'd thought he was   
looking into the eyes of an angel. The deep, crystal pools   
of jade were endless. And the oddest thing that he'd   
noticed was that they didn't seem to reflect anything, even   
when he'd gone up to shake her hand he'd thought there was   
something missing, only later realizing that he hadn't been   
able to see himself reflected in them. They were just an   
infinite sea of emerald. And her blond hair... so golden it   
looked like it had been kissed by the sun.   
  
Stop it! Myra will kill you! Schanke sighed, trying to rip   
his mind away from the memory of Alihra's supermodel figure   
and gorgeous looks. Thankfully, Nick chose that moment to   
arrive. His partner came in through the main doors,   
mumbling a quick apology to Cohen as he passed, and then   
head straight for his desk.  
  
He looked at his approaching partner somewhat suspiciously.   
His partner looked... flushed? Definitely not wonderfully   
so, but a lot more alive than he usually looked. "Nick?" he   
called, his eyes following Nick as he snuck through a crowd   
of officers standing in the aisle.  
  
Nick sat down with a slight grimace, wrapping his coat   
around his chair and placing his keys in his desk drawer.   
"Hi, Schanke. Is _she_ here?"   
  
Nick didn't mention Alihra by name, but Schanke knew exactly   
who he was talking about. "No, Alihra's not going to get   
here for another twenty minutes or so," he assured his   
worried partner. Whatever bad vibes he'd gotten from   
Alihra, it was obvious that Nick had gotten the same or   
worse. "Nick, why were you late? And is that a hint of   
color I detect in your cheeks?" he asked with somewhat of a   
teasing tone. What if he and Nat had... And that was   
why... Woah, better not go there, Schanke admonished   
himself.  
  
"Nat tried a new drug on me. It kinda worked, but it kinda   
didn't. Which reminds me, if I start acting weird you have   
to make me go home," Nick commented absently as he placed   
his head in his hands.   
  
"Nat tried a what? You mean she cured you?!" Schanke cried,   
ready to leap out of his chair and congratulate his partner.   
The sharp look Nick gave him made him realize how loud he   
was being, and he sat down. "Sorry..." he apologized,   
slightly embarrassed at his own outburst. He knew Nick   
didn't like being singled out, and he especially didn't like   
reminding his fellow officers about his little problem with   
sunlight.  
  
Nick sighed tiredly. "She tried something similar to the   
Lidovuterine but..."  
  
"Wait, Nick. Isn't the Lidovuterine the stuff that made you   
go all psycho?" Schanke interrupted, suddenly wary. He   
raised his hands and wiggled his fingers like claws for   
emphasis, putting a little sadistic curl to his lip. He  
didn't want to have to deal with that all over again.   
  
"Yeah, but this stuff is different. Nat says that it   
shouldn't have the mind altering effects that the   
Lidovuterine had. But you're supposed to keep an eye on me   
just in case," Nick said, sounding somewhat embarrassed that   
he was asking his friend to watch him.   
  
Schanke could understand that, he'd never been comfortable   
asking for favors like that either. "Sure I can do that,"   
he assured his partner quickly and then he dropped the   
subject as if it had never been brought up. "So did it work   
or not?" he asked anxiously, hoping desperately that maybe   
his friend had finally found the mortality that he had   
sought for for so long.   
  
"Kind of," Nick commented, turning his hand palm up and then   
palm down in a repeated motion. "I'm about half-and-half   
right now. I don't know if or when it'll wear off," Nick   
said somewhat worriedly.   
  
It was obvious to Schanke that Nick preferred being one of   
the extremes, and not halfway between mortal and vampire.   
Although, to Schanke, half-and-half sounded like it would be   
much better. If it was an ideal combo, with the strengths   
of both and none of the weaknesses. But then it occurred to   
him that maybe the reason Nick was looking so worried was   
that it was the unideal combo. The weaknesses of both and   
practically none of the strengths...  
  
"Well, hey, Nick. It's a start. Maybe it'll work with the   
second dose..." he tried to assure him.   
  
Nick only groaned, running his hands through his soft blond   
hair and shaking his head. "If the second dose is anywhere   
near as unpleasant as the first one, then it had better   
work..."   
  
Schanke didn't really know what to say to that. It hadn't   
occurred to him that the drugs his partner was trying could   
be potentially harmful to him. Jeez, to be that desperate   
for a cure... It was a scary thought. One that he didn't   
particularly want to entertain.   
  
"Well, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see... So...   
What are we going to do about the case?" he questioned,   
switching to a more work related topic. Seeing that blatant   
vampire kill had been very scary. He'd not seen once since   
he'd found out about Nick, and now that he had the   
knowledge of vampires it was very frightening. Especially   
when he knew how well vampires could camouflage themselves   
amongst mortal society. Hell, his partner was one and he   
hadn't known for quite awhile.   
  
He supposed it was even scarier knowing that Nick was   
capable of doing that if he chose to, although Schanke   
doubted that Nick would ever do that now. There had been   
the past, which Nick had reluctantly related bits and   
fragments about, but Nick was too good of a person now to   
even think about it.   
  
"I figured we'd go over to the Raven and ask around. If   
there's a new vampire in town, Janette will probably know,"   
Nick interrupted Schanke's musings quietly.   
  
The Raven. That's where Nick always went for tips on his   
cases, or at least to see Janette under the guise of   
getting tips... He chuckled at the thought. "Sure Nick,   
although I'm not entirely sure what Alihra will think of   
that... The Raven's got pretty weird clientele," he   
commented.  
  
Finally! Schanke wanted to shout and point, for there on   
Nick's face appeared the most reluctant of smiles. "Yeah,   
well, what can I say other than stay away from the ones who   
look hungry," Nick said good-humoredly.   
  
"Who looks hungry?" a rich feminine voice asked innocently   
from behind Schanke. Nick looked up, surprised, and sat up   
board straight from his former relaxed slouch, all joking   
manner vanishing from his persona.   
  
Schanke felt himself turning a deep shade of crimson.   
Hopefully she hadn't heard the remark about the weird   
clientele. "And trust me, Don. I can handle myself quite   
well in the presence of less than civilized people..." she   
said reproachfully. Inwardly, Schanke groaned. Well there   
went that hope down the drain...   
  
He turned and cleared his throat purposefully. "Alihra..."   
was all he could manage to say before his voice inexplicably   
cracked and forced him silent. She was standing there with   
her arms crossed, tapping her foot somewhat impatiently.   
Schanke looked at her hard. Something was different. She   
looked flushed? Almost as flushed as Nick had looked when   
he'd first come in. There was a pinkish tone to her smooth   
skin now, where before it had only been a uniform shade of   
pale peach.   
  
"Well, shall we visit this, what did you call it, Raven, and   
ask around?" Alihra questioned doubtfully, her thinly   
pencilled eyebrow raised in question. Schanke was the first   
to find himself nod, completely sidetracked from his   
previous train of thought.   
  
"Uh, yeah..." Nick said weakly from beside him as he   
reached for his coat, obviously as flustered by this woman   
as he was.   
  
Alihra smiled an alluring, sensuous smile, her pale face   
looking all the more angelic. "Well, let's go then," she   
commented sweetly, huffing slightly in her black leather   
coat. It was obvious that she wanted to move things along.   
She certainly didn't waste any time.   
  
Nick stared at her blankly for a second, and then shook his   
head. "Yeah, sure," he commented absently as he put his   
coat on and walked out the door, followed shortly by Alihra.   
Schanke was unsure whether his odd behavior was being   
caused by the cure or by Alihra. Deciding it was the   
latter, he shrugged, grabbed his own trench coat, and was   
quick to join them.  
  
*****  
  
The Raven. Nick stared at the door warily. The energetic   
beat of the Raven's gothic music was missing, as was the   
usual muscle-clad bouncer standing vigil. Funny, he didn't   
think it was a holiday or anything. And even then, that had   
never stopped Janette from keeping the club open. Even on   
Christmas, the bass was pounding and the dance floor was   
writhing with vampires. But then, most vampires didn't have   
much use for Christmas anyway.  
  
No, for Janette, the club was an amusement, a way to pass   
the years. She liked to watch the people as they conversed.   
As they danced... When she was forced from her haven to   
perform some mundane task she always felt excessively bored.   
The club... well... it gave her life. It was funny. No   
matter how much she denied it, Nick felt that The Raven was   
her way to participate in the mortal world. To have a   
mortal life. It was an interesting concept. To have the   
lives of her patrons on loan, simply by watching them as she   
sat regally at her usual spot by the bar.   
  
"Nick? What's up, why's this place closed?" Schanke asked   
curiously from behind him, his voice interrupting his   
thoughts. He looked back only to find both Schanke and   
Alihra watching him expectantly, waiting for an answer to   
Schanke's perfectly reasonable question.   
  
"I'm not sure. Let me open the door..." he answered   
truthfully, whipping out his key from his left breast   
pocket.   
  
Alihra smiled. "You have a key? I thought you and Dr.   
Lambert were a thing... Isn't she jealous?" she prodded   
with a teasing grin, as if she were deliberately trying to   
provoke Nick's rather wild temper.   
  
Nick looked at her in shock, taken aback by her boldness.   
"Of course not! Janette is a good friend, nothing more..."   
he said angrily in his own defense, wondering who this woman   
thought she was, asking him a personal question like that   
when she wouldn't even tell them specifically why she was   
there. It also bothered him a bit that Alihra seemed to   
think him capable of cheating on Natalie. That wouldn't   
happen in a million years. He'd worked too damn hard to get   
things the way the were now, and he wasn't going to mess it   
up by having some fling with Janette, or anyone else for   
that matter.  
  
"But she used to be more..." Alihra hedged, either unaware   
of his anger, or apathetic towards it. Whichever it was, it   
was still quite disconcerting.   
  
Nick felt fear growing in the pit of his stomach. How did   
this woman know so much about him? How did she know things   
that he'd never told her, that she wouldn't be able to find   
by simple information digging. "Not for a long, long   
time..." he whispered wistfully, a pained tone entering his   
voice. For some reason he found himself unable to lie to   
her.   
  
Alihra smiled in triumph as he shakily turned the key in the   
lock. "Was it serious? Major commitment?" she asked.   
  
Thankfully, Schanke finally chose that moment to break into   
the conversation. "Alihra, pardon me for saying this, but   
it's obvious that Nick doesn't want to talk about this...   
why don't you just let it be?" he asked her in an annoyed   
tone, stepping between the two of them  
  
Nick sighed in relief as Alihra gave Schanke a hateful glare   
but remained silent. Thank you, Schanke. What a   
lifesaver. He'd felt like he'd been backed into a hole   
and that the only escape would be to confess his innermost   
soul and secrets.  
  
The door opened slowly with a creak and Nick peered inside.   
The expanse was completely empty, encased in the darkness   
except by the bar where a lone vampire stood mutely, wiping   
glasses off with a towel. Miklos.   
  
Nick turned to both Alihra and Schanke as soon as he   
recognized the man at the bar. "Guys, you might want to   
wait here," he said, motioning to the stoop inside the door.   
Alihra nodded mutely, although slightly reluctantly, as   
Schanke walked in and planted himself on the top step by the   
railing, obviously prepared to sit for a long while.   
  
Nick descended the short staircase and approached the bar   
where the dark, European Miklos was standing, watching him   
cautiously. "Nick. What brings you here?" he asked, his   
voice somewhat strained.   
  
"I need to see Janette. It's very important. Is she in   
the back?" he questioned, glancing towards the backrooms   
for emphasis.   
  
"The last I saw yes, but I would not disturb her. She was   
accompanied by a man..." Miklos said mysteriously.   
  
Nick nodded, surprised that he found himself feeling a   
little jealous upon hearing that the fact. "That's ok. I   
promise to knock..." he said, faking a light-hearted   
chuckle, wondering just what exactly he _would_ do if   
Janette were with a man. He respected her privacy, but he   
also desperately needed to talk to her about the kill. This   
needed to be stopped before it happened again, when perhaps   
he and Nat wouldn't be there to cover for it.   
  
Miklos nodded slowly and went back to cleaning the glasses,   
looking rather warily towards Alihra and Schanke, who were   
conversing quietly by the door. At least Schanke hadn't   
come down and asked for a drink or anything just to peeve   
him. That would be _just_ like him, Nick thought with a   
smile.   
  
With that, Nick turned and went through a cascading   
waterfall of multi-colored decorative beads and into the   
dark back hallway that ran along the side of the public part   
of the Raven. His feet hit the lush, blood red carpeting   
almost silently as he progressed up the old wooden staircase   
and down the dim walkway towards the third door on the left.   
The door to Janette's private apartment. He hesitated only   
slightly when he arrived at Janette's closed door. He heard   
a muffled sound coming from within her private chambers. He   
strained to listen with his slightly dulled sense of   
hearing. It sounded like... crying.   
  
He knocked loudly, his knuckles rapping on the cold oak wood   
of the door in quick succession.. "Janette?" he called,   
suddenly very concerned.   
  
"Nichola... go away!" came Janette's voice back through   
the door. She sounded panicked, but when she followed her   
request with a cry of pain, he couldn't bring himself to do   
as she asked.   
  
He forced open the brass doorknob with a little bit of   
applied strength. "Janette!" he cried, running into the   
apartment as swiftly as he could upon hearing another sob   
emanate from her lips.   
  
She was lying curled up on the floor between her large,   
king-sized bed and her antique writing desk, fully clothed   
in a black satin dress and very much alone. He ran to her   
side across the plush carpet, sweeping up her body in his   
arms. "Janette, what's the matt..." he began to ask, but he   
stopped when he noticed the steady trickle of blood flowing   
freely from two neat punctures at the base of her neck.   
She'd been bitten...   
  
Janette began to tremble, the shivers racking her body in   
tiny little waves, starting from her chest and descending   
all the way down into the tips of her perfectly pedicured   
feet. "Nichola, I'm sorry! I did not tell them anything!   
Forgive me!" she cried deliriously, rocking back and forth   
in distress.  
  
"What? Tell who?" he asked, completely confused as she   
began to mumble on incoherently in her native French.  
  
He shook her lightly, enough to get a few moments of   
lucidity. "Ooooh, Nichola," she moaned, her wild mane of   
dark brown curls damp and flattened with sweat. "Je suis   
très désolée..."   
  
"For what, Janette? Why are you sorry? Tell me what's   
wrong and I can help!" Her teeth chattered relentlessly,   
and she did not answer. Nick inhaled deeply and clenched   
his jaw shut, frustrated beyond words. He set her down on   
the floor gently and went to her private bar, grabbing a   
bottle of uncut blood. He thought briefly about giving her   
some of his own blood, but realizing that he had no idea   
what effect the Lyzatrex would have on her, he decided that   
wasn't the best choice.   
  
He sat down next to her shaking body and uncorked the   
unlabeled glass bottle, gently sitting her up so that her   
head was resting in his hand, and tilting the mouth of the   
bottle towards her sensuous lips. After several moments,   
she grabbed the bottle and began to gulp it down readily as   
if she hadn't fed in years.   
  
With the last swallow, she brought her chin forward in a   
motion that made it seem like it was difficult for her, but  
after, she turned to him with her soft blue eyes, obviously   
troubled. Obviously in pain. Nick grew very afraid when he   
saw that the wound on her neck was not healing very much at   
all.   
  
"Janette, mon coeur, please, what's wrong?" he asked softly,   
pulling her tightly to his chest.   
  
"Nichola..." she whispered, distractedly, her eyes   
fluttering golden a bit before she was able to quell her   
obvious hunger. "Your heart... it is beating..." she   
commented, her large eyes opening even wider, amazed at what   
she heard.  
  
"I know. Nat tried a new drug, and it seems to be working   
somewhat..." he explained quickly. This was not what he'd   
come to discuss... She nodded slightly, looking at his   
neck as if it were the most delectable thing in the world,   
and he began to feel slightly uncomfortable. "Janette,   
control yourself!" he cried as she almost snarled at him,   
her lip curled upward in a hungry grimace.   
  
Breathing hard, she looked at him. "I am sorry, Nichola...   
I do not know what has come over me..." she commented   
absently, fingering the wound in her neck softly, wincing   
when she hit a particularly sore spot. "It must be their   
fault..." she whispered, looking at him in sheer terror.   
  
"Who, Janette? What happened?" he questioned once again,   
hoping that he would finally get an answer. At this point   
the curiosity was burning so brightly within him it   
threatened to turn him to ash, as sure as the sun on a   
bright clear day.   
  
Janette looked at him sadly, placing a blood-red nail onto   
his supple lips. "They are here, Nichola. I only met one,   
but I've never seen one traveling alone... Always in   
pairs..." she sighed deeply. He was already getting a very   
bad inkling as to where this was going.  
  
"The Enforcers, Nichola. One was asking about you... He   
came as soon as the sun set, I was unprepared... When I   
refused to tell him anything, he did this..." she said,   
gesturing towards her now slowly healing neck.  
  
"They took what they wanted from my blood..." she said with   
an ever increasing amount of dread, until she finally began   
to sob, repeating that she was sorry.   
  
Nick felt his stomach sink as a feeling of utter coldness   
hugged his soul short of breath. The Enforcers. Looking   
for him. They must've found out somehow that he'd broken   
the code. Numerous times. Oh God, Schanke... Natalie...   
They were both in danger... Glancing between Janette and   
the door, his heart began to pound. "Janette, Janette I   
have to go... Have to warn..." he said mechanically, his   
voice dying in a slow wheeze as he realized how much trouble   
he was in. Not one, but _two_ mortals knew about vampires   
because of him. He had to get out of here and warn them...   
he had to get Nat and Schanke to someplace safe...   
  
"Nichola, NO! If they found me, they can find you," she   
began in a frantic effort to get him to listen to reason,   
interrupting his panicked train of thoughts. "They are   
probably watching you this instant! If you run to Natalie   
they will know and they will kill you without hesitation.   
Don't run away Nichola. There is a chance that they did not   
glean everything that they could from my blood. They may   
not know everything. If you run away, if you warn Natalie   
and Schanke, then that advantage is lost!" she pleaded,   
grabbing onto the lapels of his shirt ferociously.   
  
Nick looked again towards the door, but the initial panic   
was slowly dying as reason began to kick in. The Enforcers   
hadn't killed him, or Nat, or Schanke, yet. And that was   
for a reason. Maybe they didn't know all the facts, maybe   
they just weren't sure if his small transgressions were   
worth their time. After all, Nat had proven herself a   
valuable asset in covering up for the community, and Schanke   
had proven to be quite trustworthy.   
  
Janette was apparently watching him and knew what he was   
thinking. She attempted to encourage his course of logic as   
much as she could. "Oh, Nichola... Promise me you won't   
run away! If you don't run, they may be willing to grant   
you mercy..." she pleaded with him, her eyes filled with a   
burning passion.  
  
Nick opened his mouth slightly to protest, but she cupped   
her smooth hand across his mouth and prevented it.   
"Promise," she demanded softly, blue eyes flashing wildly.   
  
He closed his eyes in pain. "I promise Janette," he   
whispered sadly, taking her into a tight embrace. She   
really was right. If the Enforcers were indeed after him,   
there was not much he could do about it anyway. But if they   
_were_ after him, why hadn't they gotten him yet? It's not   
like he was all that hard to find... But that only meant   
that they were observing him...  
  
His mind brightened at the possibility. Maybe if he could   
solve this case, they would be more lenient with him... He   
could show them how he helped uphold the code... "Janette,   
have you seen any new vampires in town _besides_ the   
Enforcer who bit you?"  
  
"No, Nichola. No one new has passed through that I've   
seen," Janette answered, slightly confused by his quick   
subject change. "Why on Earth do you ask?"  
  
"That's why I originally came here. There's been a messy   
vampire kill that was left completely out in the open. No   
witnesses or anything. I had been hoping you could provide   
me with a lead..."  
  
"Ah..." Janette nodded, understanding, but not quite   
grasping how he'd steered to that subject...  
  
"Janette, if I can stop this rogue before he kills again,   
then the Enforcers may be lenient with me," he explained.   
  
Her eyes widened and she kissed him lightly on the cheek,   
forgetting both her physical and emotional pain momentarily.   
"Oh, Nichola... I do hope so. I do not know what I would   
do if you were dead. I do not want you to die!" she cried.   
  
"I won't if I can help it," he assured her, although the   
feeling of dread from before was coming back to rest in the   
pit of his stomach. As with the mysterious Alihra, he felt   
like he was being backed into a corner, hunted... "I just   
don't understand who would've done this! There wasn't even   
an attempt to disguise the bite marks. It's like someone   
just left the body there, with the _intention_ of me...   
finding it..." his voice trailed off as he realized that   
what he'd proposed had a high probability of being true,   
especially if Janette had neither seen nor heard of a new   
vampire in Toronto.  
  
Someone was baiting him. Toying with him before they went   
in for the kill... But who? He got up to leave and ponder   
his situation, but his thoughts were interrupted when he   
felt a tingling sensation in his nose, an inexplicable urge   
to... "ACHOO!"   
  
Janette looked up at him sharply. "Nichola... you   
sneezed..." she said, worriedly stating the obvious...   
  
Nick turned towards her, a strange look of confusion marring   
his normal emotional mask. "I..." He didn't know what to   
say. He hadn't sneezed since... well he couldn't remember   
the last time he'd just randomly sneezed.  
  
Janette got up from the floor and rushed over to him. "You   
sneezed!" she cried again, shaking a pointed index finger at   
him wildly. "This drug Natalie is trying on you, it is   
making you sick!" she accused angrily.   
  
"Janette, I'm sure it's fine..." he tried to reassure her,   
while at the same time reassuring himself. So that was what   
a sneeze felt like. Odd...   
  
"Nichola, I've never heard you sneeze before, and you tell   
me that this is all right?" Janette questioned, perplexed.   
  
"Janette, relax! If I sneeze, that's a good thing, right?   
If I want to become mortal, I have to deal with the problems   
as well as the advantages..." he rationalized quietly,   
hoping she'd understand.  
  
Janette sat down in a nearby chair in a huff. "Mortals have   
no advantages. They grow old and they die..." she said,   
dejectedly. "Nichola... I... This quest of yours to   
become mortal does not bother me so much as the concept of   
me losing you..." she told him honestly, her soft French   
accent becoming more and more pronounced the more emotional   
she got.   
  
Nick felt himself smile. This was the first time she'd ever   
admitted that she needed him as much as he needed her. They   
were each other's only constant through the changing decades   
and centuries. "Janette, I know..." he commented softly,   
reaching down to pull her up from the chair and into a warm   
embrace. "But as far as I'm concerned, we can deal with   
that if and when it happens. I'm not mortal yet..." he   
tried to console her as she started to weep, immediately   
feeling bad.   
  
"But you are getting close... I don't want to be alone,   
Nichola... You're the only static thing that I have   
left..." she whispered into his chest, blood tears beginning   
to fall freely from her damp eyes.   
  
Nick swallowed as he heard her forlorn whimpering. That was   
partially his fault. LaCroix... He'd always gotten along   
much better with Janette. And now he was gone... "Janette,   
I don't know what to say. I can't stop my quest because of   
this..." he said, hoping that his admission would not make   
her angry. But at the same time, he felt that he was being   
terribly self-centered.  
  
Janette looked up and wiped her eyes with her fingers. "I   
know, Nichola. I know that I am being selfish... You   
deserve your happiness," she said softly, and then she   
started to cry again.  
  
"Shhh, Janette... It's all right..." Nick found himself   
saying as his own tears began to fall. But it wasn't all   
right. If this cure worked, things were going to be more   
difficult than he thought...  
  
*****   
  
Schanke glanced down at his watch for the third time in as   
many minutes, they'd been in there talking for two hours.   
He stared nervously at Alihra. "I don't know what's taking   
him so long... Usually he's in and out..." he excused his   
partner, but Alihra only smiled.   
  
"It's quite all right, Don. Tell me, is Nick often like   
this?" Alihra asked, looking away towards the empty bar as   
if to de-emphasize the fact that she was being nosy.   
  
"Like how?" Schanke asked cautiously, looking in the   
direction of her glance. Miklos had left about an hour ago   
to go take inventory in the basement, and it was just the   
two of them sitting alone on the stoop of the dark,   
unnervingly silent Raven.   
  
"Leaving you here doing nothing while he goes and solves the   
case alone..." Alihra explained, her voice dripping with a   
sickly sweet innocence that made Schanke queasy.   
  
Schanke sighed. "He used to, now he doesn't at all. I   
think the only reason he didn't bring me along to talk to   
Janette this time is because of this..." he commented,   
gesturing to the unexpectedly closed Raven. "Janette   
doesn't really mind if I come to talk to her during business   
hours, but she has a low tolerance for having her privacy   
interrupted," Schanke said with a chuckle, remembering the   
last time he'd come here without Nick to see if she had any   
tips on a case.   
  
That had not been pretty at all, although Nick was laughing   
out his ears when he found out Schanke had been scared out of   
his wits upon trying to enter the Raven during the daytime.   
Luckily Janette had recognized him before a crisis had   
happened... He could still remember her snarling viciously   
at him. And he thought that she was a scary woman when she   
looked normal... Vampire Janette was not one to be trifled   
with, not at all, and he commended Nick for his bravery. Of   
course, Nick and Janette were on much more even ground...  
  
"So how close is he with Janette?" she asked, curiously, her   
emerald eyes flashing.   
  
"I think that if he wants to tell you that, it's his   
business," Schanke commented dryly. This woman had a   
terrible propensity for prying.   
  
"Well, what about Dr. Lambert. What's going on with her?"   
Alihra asked, rapidly changing her approach.   
  
Schanke stared at her in amazement. She just didn't quit!   
"Natalie is Nick's significant other, as I believe you   
termed it. They're real serious, and I'm not going to say   
another word unless it's common knowledge that you could   
find elsewhere just as easily..." he said, rather annoyed.   
  
Alihra seemed to realize that she was making all the   
progress of a runner on a treadmill, so she switched   
approaches again, much to Schanke's increasing irritation.   
"So, Nick has a sun allergy? Don't you find that the least   
bit odd?"   
  
"Of course it's odd!" Schanke cried anxiously, "He has a   
very rare skin condition, I believe Nat called it something   
like Hemolotololopapsia... but I can't remember..." Alarm   
bells were starting to chime rapidly in Schanke's head. He   
didn't like where this was going at all. Not one bit.   
  
"That's not really the cause, he has no disease. There's   
something that you're not telling me," she said, her almond   
shaped eyes narrowing ever so slightly, marred with   
suspicion.  
  
"I..." Schanke felt a lump forming in his throat. Nick had   
never really coached him on what to say in a situation like   
this. His partner had trusted his judgment to keep his   
secret and keep it well. God help him if he blew it.   
  
"I thought so..." Alihra said haughtily, a wicked smirk   
splitting her flawless face. She then turned to stare   
directly into Schanke's eyes, and he felt himself start to   
go weak in the knees. Lucky for him that he was sitting   
down...  
  
"Why don't you tell me what you know?" she asked   
seductively as she curled her sinuous body over his, and he   
heard her voice as if it was resonating in his head, echoing   
off the sides of his skull. He could hear his heart beating   
steadily in his ears, a rumbling sea of pounding war drums.  
  
"Tell you ... what I know..." he found himself repeating   
dangerously, unable to stop himself. It felt like she had   
a grip on his mind, commanding it to bend to her will.   
Almost like Nick when he was mesmerizing someone...   
  
"What do you know about Detective Knight's allergy?" she   
prodded, taking hold of his shoulder with her hands as she   
looked deeply into his eyes, her voice echoing as if it were   
being thrown across a wide canyon.   
  
"I... I..." he found himself gasping for breath,   
desperately trying to resist, but finding that he simply   
could not.   
  
And suddenly, the strange sensation left his mind as if it   
had never been, his heartbeat receding back into his chest   
where it belonged. He heard Alihra groan beside him,   
frustrated. Why?   
  
Oh... he realized then why she'd stopped, as Nick solemnly   
appeared at the door to the back, his face screwed up in a   
picture of grief. Strangely, he was wearing a different   
shirt than the one he'd entered with, and Schanke wondered   
distractedly whether Alihra noticed the change at the same   
time as wondering why on Earth Nick had switched shirts.   
  
"Nick!" he cried. He had to tell Nick about Alihra. About   
how she had been prying. About her strange hypnosis   
ability. Unless... Unless she was a vampire? Nah...   
Nick would've mentioned that, and knowing Nick, he certainly   
wouldn't have left him alone out here with her if she was   
one, especially since Nick was visibly disturbed by her as   
well.  
  
"Schanke, I have to go. I have to take care of something   
before it's too late..." he said, his voice growing hoarse   
with raw emotion. It was obvious that he'd been crying...   
  
"Nick, what's wrong?" Schanke asked, worriedly, but Nick   
didn't even seem to hear him as he walked towards them, a   
prisoner of his own overwhelming grief. He was heading for   
the door. He was going to leave him here with Alihra!   
"Nick, wait!" he cried frantically.  
  
But it was too late. Nick shoved past them and left before   
Schanke could utter another word. With the slamming of the   
door, he felt Alihra grab him harshly and pull him out of   
the Raven and onto the frigid street, her nails clutching   
the lapels of his shirt like sharp talons. He tried to   
break free, he really did... "Tell me what you know..."   
  
And God help him, Schanke could do nothing other than   
submit.   
  
*****  
  
He landed only quick enough to be thrown almost completely   
off balance by a terrible sneeze. "ACHOO!" His whole body   
flung forward with the intensity, his black leather boots   
unwittingly kicking up a fine layer of dusty snow. Nick   
wiped his sniffly nose on the back of his hand, not having   
a handkerchief or anything else with which he could take   
care of his problem. He'd been sneezing a lot since that   
first one that he'd experienced while talking with Janette.  
  
The air was cold, so much so that he was surprised it   
wasn't frozen solid, and he wished at once that he'd had   
the smarts to have bought a warmer coat. Although it wasn't   
like he actually would've needed it until now. He'd found   
that after the initial shock of receiving the Lyzatrex had   
warn off, most of his vampire powers still quite accessible,   
like the power of flight he'd used to get here so quickly,   
but he was also noticing that things were affecting him more   
than usual. He was more sensitive to the bitter cold night   
air, and he had a hunger looming about his stomach that he   
wasn't necessarily sure whether it was for blood or not.   
  
He clutched Schanke's red scarf tightly around his cold neck   
and red-flushed face. Thankfully, his partner had been nice   
enough to loan it to him on the way to the Raven when he had   
mentioned that he was really cold.   
  
He sighed. Schanke... Nick realized he was feeling   
particularly guilty for leaving Schanke with Alihra so   
unexpectedly, but his conversation with Janette had made it   
apparent to him what he needed to do. He wanted Christmas   
with Nat to be special. And now he had the perfect idea.   
  
Sobbing slightly, he realized that there was a good chance   
he wouldn't even live to see Christmas, what with Enforcers   
and a hunter of some sort after him. He only had to make   
it another thirteen days. Thirteen days.   
  
He approached his destination at a more than leisurely gate   
and tapped gently on the glass door. A short balding man in   
his bathrobe, sitting on a stool within, smiled upon seeing   
Nick's arrival and immediately got up to let him into the   
store.   
  
He entered quickly and looked first left and then right.   
Finally choosing a direction, strode down the aisle, the dim   
lighting bringing out his haggard features in a ghastly pale   
visage that started even him as he glanced into one of the   
many mirrors that littered the store. Mortality, it seemed,   
even partial mortality, was not doing good things for his   
stress levels.   
  
"Well, Mr. Brabant, it's good to see you, although I do hope   
you make it worth my while for opening the store for you so   
early in the morning," the owner smiled cheerfully, trying   
to stifle a glaringly obvious need to yawn.   
  
Nick smiled sheepishly as he glanced at his watch. It was   
rather early, especially for someone who was not working on   
the nightshift. "Don't worry, Mr. Mathias. I'll add in an   
extra twenty percent onto the final price to make up for the   
inconvenience," he said quietly as he looked around, hoping   
that something would catch his eye. Something special.   
Something eternal.   
  
"Ooh, Mr. Brabant, you're too kind," Mr. Mathias said with   
a greedy smile, clasping his hands together and raising his   
index fingers towards his lips in the classic gesture of   
complacence. However kind the man may have been on a   
regular basis, the prospect of making a lot of money always   
made him kinder.   
  
"ACHOO!" Nick shuddered as a shiver ran through him. He   
was getting sick... Really sick...   
  
"Bless you, Mr. Brabant! You sound very ill!" Mr. Mathias   
stated the obvious as he gracefully proffered a crisp   
handkerchief out of his bathrobe's front pocket to his   
special customer.   
  
"Yeah, I must be coming down with something," Nick sighed   
worriedly as he continued to look around. There must be   
something here! Something...   
  
There!  
  
It was perfect. Beautiful. Fit for a queen. His queen...   
Smiling, he pointed to the display as he walked straight   
towards it with a look of determination. "I want that   
one..."   
  
Mr. Mathias's eyes just about bugged out of his head. "Mr.   
Brabant, are you sure? That one is rather expensive..."   
Mr. Mathias said cautiously, obviously hoping that Nick was   
not pointing to that one by accident or by   
misunderstanding.   
  
"I don't care. Price is not an object in this anyway. How   
much?" Nick asked carefully, hoping the man did not wish to   
haggle over the price. He was rapidly developing a   
headache and he didn't think he'd have the energy.  
  
Mr. Mathias smiled and wrote a rather large figure on a   
piece of paper. "That's fine," Nick said. "What's twenty   
percent on that?" he asked as he pulled out his black   
checkbook from the inside pocket of his black duster.   
  
Mr. Mathias wrote another figure onto the sheet. "Oh, I'm   
so glad to do business with you, Mr. Brabant! You've   
pretty much paid for the next year's rent!" he commented   
excitedly, obviously very glad that he'd opened the store   
despite his previous misgivings.   
  
Nick smiled warmly despite his rapidly deteriorating state   
of health. "I trust this will be ready for me to pick up as   
soon as it's been fitted and my check has been cleared with   
the bank?" he asked, making sure he had the details of the   
contract correct.   
  
"Oh, absolutely! I can do it express if you need it in a   
rush. May I ask who the lucky recipient is?" Mr. Mathias   
asked jovially, running his chubby hand through his   
thinning hair.   
  
Nick smiled again, this time much more dreamily. "Someone   
very special..." he said, his voice taking on a far away   
tone.   
  
Mr. Mathias grinned a toothy smile, his mustache creasing   
upwards ever so slightly. "Ah, a lovely lady, I'm sure."  
  
"Oh indeed. And she gets lovelier every day..." Nick sighed   
as he thought of Natalie.   
  
"Ah, beauty is always greatest when true love has swept up   
the eye of the beholder," Mr. Mathias commented, clapping   
his warm hand across Nick's back in a friendly gesture. "I   
wish you the best of luck, Mr. Brabant!"   
  
"Thank you," Nick said as he bid the kind man goodbye and   
stepped back outside into the bitter chill of night. He   
closed his eyes and took a deep breath, tilting his head   
skyward.   
  
The sun would be rising soon...   
  
*****   
  
Nat looked at the body on her table, perplexed. It was   
definitely a vampire kill, no doubt about it. But there was   
something that was bugging her about it. Like it was too   
by the book.   
  
There was not a scratch on the body. Nothing. Usually   
she'd found _some_ indication that the victim had put up an   
initial struggle before the vampire hypnotized the victim   
into submission, but this time there had been nothing. Only   
the two punctures, and a _huge_ amount of blood loss. It   
was as if this victim had wanted to be sucked dry. Like it   
was a pleasurable experience.   
  
Nat subconsciously fingered her neck, where two tiny   
puncture marks had taken up what seemed to be a permanent   
residence. Although Nick had successfully finished once   
before without biting her, it was a fairly isolated event.   
Only once since then had he been able to make a repeat   
performance, not that Nat minded. Getting drunk from _was_   
a very sexual experience, one that she enjoyed thoroughly,   
but she doubted it would be quite the same outside of the   
context she'd experienced it.   
  
Nick had never really talked about it, and although she was   
dying to know, she didn't think it was her place to ask. He   
was very uncomfortable just talking about the little things,   
like his hunger, and whatnot. Talking about feeding from   
someone would probably send him into a terrible guilt   
fest...  
  
"So what did you find?"  
  
The voice penetrated her thoughts, and Nat looked over   
towards the door, startled. She recognized the older,   
slightly wrinkled, graying woman standing before her almost   
immediately. "Alihra! What brings you here?" she asked   
curiously, looking behind her shoulder for either Nick or   
Schanke and growing slightly nervous when she saw neither.   
  
Alihra approached Natalie hesitantly. "Nick had to run an   
errand and Schanke's out parking the car. I got sent in to   
find out any details that you may have found..." she said,   
staring at Nat with a hard glare.   
  
Nat immediately felt uncomfortable. Parking the car? They   
always parked it illegally anyway, it wasn't like someone   
would be taking their spot... And Nick, running an errand?   
That was logical, he often left in mid-shift if he thought   
something was important enough, but he usually jumped at the   
chance to come and visit her at the morgue. It had gotten   
to the point that Schanke just didn't even volunteer   
anymore, Nick always got the info from the morgue when they   
didn't come together. Not to mention that this was a   
'special' case. They'd never send an 'uninformed' person in   
to talk with her. Would they?  
  
"Really? Well," she said distractedly, clearing her throat,   
"it was obviously an animal attack. I would attribute the   
blood loss to evaporation, but I'm going to have to check   
into that more when I get the opportunity. I've been busy   
today as you may have guessed... Suicide rates during   
Christmas and New Years always skyrocket..." she babbled,   
going off on the first tangent that hit her. Perhaps if she   
dodged the subject and distracted Alihra, she wouldn't ask   
too many questions that she couldn't answer without it   
looking suspicious.   
  
Alihra smiled. "Come now, Dr. Lambert... What did you   
_really_ find?" she asked, her tone getting dangerously low,   
seductive almost.   
  
She tried to hide her shock at the question, but she   
couldn't help it as her hands began to shake. This woman   
knew something that she wasn't supposed to know... "I'm not   
sure what you're talking a..." Nat's voice cut off as she   
saw Schanke come into the room and she sighed in visible   
relief. "Schanke!"  
  
"Hello, Natalie... It's so good to see you..." Schanke   
said, almost completely monotone.   
  
Natalie backed herself against the desk. "Schank?" she   
asked, a feeling of dread coming to rest in the pit of her   
stomach as Schanke stopped next to Alihra and stared blankly   
ahead. Nat's eyes shifted to Alihra, who was standing there   
with a ghastly wicked grin on her face.   
  
Alihra brushed a stray gray hair from her eyes with a blood   
red nail. "Don't worry, Natalie..." she said sweetly as   
she motioned to Schanke.   
  
"Don't worry, Natalie..." Schanke said monotonely, in that   
strange, possessed voice, repeating Alihra word for word as   
if he had no mind of his own. He began to walk towards her   
slowly, his arms outstretched like he was preparing to grab   
her. He _was_ preparing to grab her...  
  
Nat tried to back up, glancing back and forth between Alihra   
and Schanke with panic, but she realized that she was   
already back as far as she could go. And she couldn't bolt   
out the door either, Schanke and Alihra were blocking any   
possible exit. "Schanke? Listen to me! She's controlling   
you! Stop!" she pleaded desperately, but to no avail.   
  
Schanke said nothing as he grabbed hold of her shoulders   
and clasped his hand in front of her lips to prevent any   
hope of screaming for help. She struggled against his firm   
grip with all her might, twisting this way and that.   
Despite the fact that she was in much better physical shape,   
she was still no match for Schanke's large frame and he was   
able to hold her fast.   
  
"Natalie, this won't hurt a bit. I assure you. If you   
hold still it will make it easier and then we can all go   
home..." Alihra said, slightly condescendingly. It was as   
if she thought Nat a mere child.   
  
Nat's eyes widened and she kicked her feet out in one last   
ditch effort to escape, knocking over a tray of scalpels and   
whatnot, her blue heeled pump flying off her foot and almost   
right into Alihra's pale, lined face. Alihra dodged and   
quickly righted herself. "You little witch! How can Nick   
like you?!" she screeched as she advanced upon Nat and   
slapped her stingingly across the face.   
  
Tears sprang into her eyes and Nat blinked furiously to keep   
them from falling, breathing hard into Schanke's warm hand.   
What on Earth was going on? She didn't understand at all,   
Alihra had seemed perfectly fine, if not a little strange at   
the crime scene... She cried out futily into Schanke's hand,   
but all the resulted was a muffled moan. No one out in the   
hallways would be able to hear her...  
  
"Now, Natalie, I want you to look at me..." Alihra said   
threateningly, her hand raised again to discipline her if   
need be.   
  
Nat squeezed her eyes shut in response, turning her head   
away as far as Schanke's firm grasp would allow. Another   
slap. "Look at me!" cried Alihra, frustration dripping from   
her voice. She was obviously not used to such furious   
resistance...   
  
"If you don't look at me, I'll have Schanke carry you out to   
Nick's Cadillac and lock you in the trunk while we go to   
the loft and stake him while he sleeps..." Alihra said, her   
tone going from angry to dangerously low. Dangerously   
calm...   
  
Natalie felt her heart stop in her chest as he mind began to   
race. This was a hunter. It had to be... And she would   
kill Nick if she didn't cooperate... But she would kill   
Nick if she _did_ cooperate too... wouldn't she?   
  
Apparently knowing exactly what she was thinking, Alihra   
continued. "Look at me! I'm not going to kill him if I can   
help it but you're not giving me much choice!"   
  
Nat hesitantly opened her eyes and looked into Alihra's   
shocking fiery green ones. She couldn't help but notice how   
incredibly exotic they looked, with the golden streaks in   
them they looked almost... hypnotic...   
  
"Now, Natalie," Alihra said, sighing with obvious relief.   
"I want you to tell me what you found..." she commanded   
huffily with a slight shake of her head, the condescending   
tone returning to her rich feminine voice. The command   
echoed for years in her head, and it almost felt like her   
brains were being turned to mush as the older woman spoke.   
And then it turned to a terrible pressure. Her legs gave   
out, but Schanke caught her before she could fall to the   
cold, tiled floor.   
  
"Don, remove your hand from her mouth so she can speak..."   
Alihra said smoothly. Schanke's hand fell from her mouth   
almost the same instant that the command was issued.   
  
Nat knew she should scream for help. She knew it... And   
yet she found herself strangely unable to. The pressure on   
her head and her chest were increasing. "Tell me what you   
found!" Alihra said more forcefully this time.   
  
"I... I... Two..." Natalie found herself speaking,   
completely outside of her control. It was as if she was   
sitting somewhere outside her body, helplessly watching it   
respond to the commands of this mysterious woman.   
  
"Yes, two?" Alihra said excitedly, almost visibly jumping in   
a cheer of success.   
  
"Two... punctures... vampire..." That was the last thing   
that she had conscious realization of saying, her resistance   
completely lost. Natalie sighed as the pressure became too   
much and she fell into the heavy black waterfalls cascading   
across her view field.   
  
*****  
  
Nat sighed as she pulled open the elevator door, dusting off   
the wet snowflakes from her overcoat and wild hair. Damn   
headaches! She'd had an awful bordering on a migraine   
headache since that stupid autopsy, which, of course, had   
shown her nothing except what she had already known from the   
start.   
  
"Nick?!" she called out tiredly as she set her purse down on   
the floor beside the door and strode across the practically   
empty floor, her heels clicking on the cold hard wood as she   
progressed. No answer.   
  
She rubbed her temple with her hand as she glanced about,   
the shooting pains in her forehead increasing slightly.   
Nick was nowhere to be seen, at least on the first floor.   
Odd... He _always_ waited for her to get home, and she for   
him.   
  
MREEEEOOOW!  
  
Natalie glanced down, where a certain gray and white fur   
ball was now rubbing furiously against her legs. "Hey, Sid.   
Didn't Nick feed you?" she asked curiously as if she   
expected an answer. Even if Nick was too tired to wait up   
for her she would've hoped that he would've taken care of   
her poor, obviously starving cat. Hah. That was a laugh.   
He was so spoiled that the day Sidney was starving was the   
day that Hell froze over. Not that that wouldn't be hard   
with the weather they were having...  
  
After taking care to feed her over-indulged cat, she walked   
up the stairs and poked her head in their bedroom only to   
find Nick dead to the world. Damn! She'd wanted to talk to   
him about how the Lyzatrex was working. Not having the   
heart to wake him up when he was obviously tired, she   
decided that that discussion would have to wait until   
tomorrow.  
  
She wandered back downstairs and over to the fridge,   
grabbing an apple for a quick snack. With a groan, she sat   
down at the black table in the kitchen, eating quickly. She   
was tired. And her head hurt. Sydney hopped up onto the   
table to keep her company, purring up a storm.   
  
"Hey, Sid. Got any miracle cures for headaches?" she asked   
jokingly, rubbing her temples again in pain. Since she'd   
already taken well beyond the max dosage of ibuprofen, there   
really wasn't much else she could do. Sydney just looked at   
her, meowing in indignation as her hands went to pet her   
forehead rather than his. She laughed despite her   
discomfort and indulged him briefly, rubbing behind his soft   
ears and underneath his chin. His most favorite spots.   
  
After she finished appeasing her cat and her stomach, Nat   
went back upstairs. Ooooh to join Nick in sweet slumber...   
Quickly undressing, she looked around for her nightgown. It   
was gone... DAMNIT!   
  
Frustrated and not really interested in rummaging around for   
a clean one, she just grabbed a pair of Nick's black satin   
pajamas off of his valet and put them on. As tired as she   
was, she laughed slightly as they tented around her, way too   
big for her and yet still very comfortable... Very...   
smooth... She wiggled a bit in them and smiled as she   
turned towards the bathroom with all intents of going to   
brush her teeth and be done with it.   
  
COUGH   
  
She stopped cold in her tracks. Was that Nick? She looked   
more closely at him than she had the last time she'd come   
up and noticed that his sleep was not nearly as peaceful as   
she'd originally assumed. His face was covered with small   
beads of bloodsweat, and his breathing sounded very labored.   
Normally when he slept you couldn't see him breathing at   
all, and now his chest was heaving up and down like he was   
running a marathon.  
  
"Nick?" she called as she approached the bed. He coughed   
again as she placed her hands on his shoulders and shook   
him.   
  
Unlike how he usually awoke involuntarily, snarling and at   
the ready, he opened his eyes blearily. "Nat?" he asked,   
his voice hoarse and painful as he broke into a coughing   
fit.   
  
"My God, Nick! You look terrible! Is this the Lyzatrex?   
Why didn't you call?" she started asking him questions a   
mile a minute, but it was obvious she'd lost him pretty   
much with the utterance of the name. His eyes closed and   
she shook him hard, her own headache all but forgotten.   
  
She glanced at her watch. She'd given the Lyzatrex to Nick   
almost eleven hours ago. That wasn't much time for any   
disease to multiply enough to be seen, symptom-wise, and   
that was assuming that he'd been infected the second the   
Lyzatrex had kicked in. But then again, there was always   
the odd, incredibly virulent strain...   
  
"Nick, c'mon. Stay with me here... When did this start?"   
she asked worriedly, trying assess what specifically was   
wrong. She didn't _think_ the Lyzatrex would've done   
this...   
  
"Dunno... borrowed scarf... cold..." he murmured   
unintelligibly.   
  
Cold... Her mind raced, trying to decipher his broken   
speech. Of course! The Lyzatrex had only partially worked,   
making him somewhere in-between mortal and vampire. It   
must've weakened his vampire immune system. Good lord, that   
was something she'd never even considered... He'd never   
been exposed to today's diseases, he would have virtually no   
immunity at all. No wonder he'd gotten sick so soon, his   
body had no defenses whatsoever against all the current   
germs. Probably every bacterium in Toronto had located   
Nick's virgin immune system and exploited it.   
  
She placed her hand on his forehead, completely unsurprised   
to find it burning up. He had a terrible fever... His   
eyelids drooped tiredly and she was immediately sympathetic.   
He probably hadn't been sick since he'd been a mortal. This   
was practically a new experience for him.   
  
He coughed again, and she immediately forced herself back on   
task. She ran into the bathroom and grabbed the rubbing   
alcohol from the medicine cabinet and a dry washcloth from   
the towel rack. Returning, she unbuttoned his pajama top   
and swathed his forehead and chest with the alcohol.   
Hopefully, the quick evaporation would help cool him off a   
bit.   
  
"Nick? Can you hear me?" she asked quietly, patting his   
cheek in hopes of giving him some lucidity. His eyes   
fluttered again and she gasped at the sight. They were   
golden, glowing slightly on their own in the darkness of the   
room. If he had the vampire... then why was he sick? I   
feel... not mortal. But not vampire...   
  
Her hands went immediately to his jugular. Thump. Thump.   
He had a pulse, a very slow one, like that of an Olympic   
athlete, but it was definitely a pulse. What in the world?   
I feel... not mortal. But not vampire... It seemed, that   
the Lyzatrex had dealt him a cruel blow, giving him the   
weaknesses of mortality, but not the strengths. Why was the   
stupid Lyzatrex working so much differently in Nick's   
bloodstream as opposed to Nick's blood samples?   
  
"Nat? Tht'stuff rlly smells..." Nick complained sleepily,   
opening his eyes only a crack, only enough to see her, but   
at least this time they were blue.   
  
Nat looked down and found that the whole time she'd been   
contemplating what the Lyzatrex was doing to his system, her   
hands had been on auto pilot, applying and reapplying the   
alcohol. "Well you shouldn't have gotten a fever then!" she   
chastised him playfully, glad that he was getting a bit more   
lucid.  
  
"Srry," he said, slurred slightly. It was obvious that he   
was not in the best of health. He coughed lightly again,   
and then it grew into a rather bad coughing fit. She sat   
him up and rubbed his back until it subsided. "Thanks..."   
  
"You're welcome. Although I think we need to try something   
else, because Nat-medicine is getting really tired..." she   
said with a pronounced yawn, making sure he had his balance   
and then getting up.   
  
Nick raised an eyebrow. "Just knock me out and put me out   
of my misery..." he said as he placed his head in his clammy   
hands. "You shoulda just left me feverish, at least I   
wouldn't remember it..." he had to stop to cough again, and   
he looked rather distressed. "Nat, am I dying?"  
  
Nat couldn't help but laugh. "Of course not, Nick. You've   
just got a bad cold... well it's probably not a cold since   
you've got a fever... Or was it that fevers sometimes...   
Oh I can't remember... I'm a coroner not a virologist," she   
babbled until she saw she was losing his attention quite   
rapidly. "To put it simply, no," she answered finally.   
  
He smiled. "You know, I think I have a whole new   
understanding of how you felt when you were out with the   
flu... Remind me to be more sympathetic next time," he said   
with a laugh, again accentuating it with a cough and a   
sniffle.   
  
"I think I'll have to hold you to that... Now wait there a   
second," she answered, not waiting to see his response as   
she went back into the bathroom and opened the medicine   
cabinet again. With her index finger she scanned through   
the contents, Tylenol... nah... Sudafed... no..., until it   
finally came to rest on the sacred blue-labeled bottle.   
Ah, NyQuil. Cold medicine for the Gods...  
  
"Nick," she began as she grabbed it and walked out into the   
bedroom. "_This_, my friend, is your first lesson in   
mortality. What I am about to give you, is the cough   
medicine of cough medicines. The elixir to appease the sore   
throat God. _This_ is cherry-flavored NyQuil," she said   
grandly, waving her hand in front of it like Vana White as   
if she had just turned over a vowel.  
  
Nick looked appropriately awed. "It looks... gross..." he   
commented with a slightly disgusted curl of his lip as she   
poured it out into the small plastic cup.   
  
She snapped her head up and looked at him. "Hey! Never let   
it hear you say that! It might not work now because you've   
hurt its feelings..." she said jokingly, handing him the   
cup. "Just pretend it's purple blood..."   
  
"Purple blood?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.   
  
"Yeah, purple blood," she confirmed, trying to keep the   
smile from her face as he downed the contents of the cup,   
screwing up his face in a look of surprise as the initial   
zing cleared up his nose and throat.   
  
"Wow... This is powerful stuff..." he said, staring at the   
bottle as she set it on the nightstand.   
  
"Yup. But _never_ take it during the day, cuz it'll knock   
you out," she added informatively as she snuck into the   
covers next to him, her headache coming back slightly, but   
not nearly as bad as it had been before.   
  
Nick nodded and lay himself down into her warm embrace. It   
was silent for several moments, and Nat almost thought he   
was asleep. "Nat?" suddenly came Nick's cautious voice.   
"Not that I mind, but why are you wearing my PJs?"  
  
She laughed in spite of her returning headache and   
tiredness. "You know, if I make it through the night   
without catching whatever nasty bug you have... I just   
might tell you," she said huffily and then settled in for   
what she hoped would be a restful sleep.   
  
*****  
  
Come now, Dr. Lambert... What did you _really_ find?"  
  
I'm not sure what you're talking a... Schanke!   
  
Hello, Natalie... It's so good to see you...   
  
Schank?  
  
Don't worry, Natalie...  
  
Don't worry, Natalie...   
  
Schanke? Listen to me! She's controlling you! Stop!  
  
Natalie, this won't hurt a bit. I assure you. If you hold   
still it will make it easier and then we can all go home...  
  
You little witch! How can Nick like you?!   
  
Now, Natalie, I want you to look at me...  
  
Look at me!  
  
If you don't look at me, I'll have Schanke carry you out to   
Nick's Cadillac and lock you in the trunk while we go to the   
loft and stake him while he sleeps...  
  
Look at me! I'm not going to kill him if I can help it but   
you're not giving me much choice!   
  
Now, Natalie, I want you to tell me what you found...  
  
Don, remove your hand from her mouth so she can speak...  
  
Her lip twitched as she began to moan.  
  
Tell me what you found!  
  
She tossed in her sleep frantically, side to side, almost   
falling off the bed.   
  
I... I... Two...   
  
Natalie snapped awake like a overly tense springboard,   
panting and drenched in salty sweat. That had been a crazy   
nightmare... She glanced around wildly, only to realize   
that she was alone.   
  
"Nick?" she yelped, her heart still beating wildly in fear   
from the terrible dream. He wasn't there, but she didn't   
have time to ponder it as a bolt of pain coursed through her   
head. She winced and sucked in a quick breath through   
clenched teeth, her eyes squeezing shut against the   
onslaught.   
  
Nick poked his head in the door almost instantly. "Nat?   
What's the matter, I heard you moaning..." he said worriedly   
as he walked in, a steaming coffee mug in his hand, almost   
completely forgotten.   
  
She opened one eye cautiously and then the other, peering at   
him like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar.   
"Noth... Nothing, it was just a nightmare..." she assured   
him, although she said it to assure herself more than him.   
Luckily the pain shooting through her temples was rapidly   
receding.   
  
"I don't suppose it's too much to ask that you're drinking   
real coffee?" she asked hopefully, distracted by the large   
cow-spotted mug clasped absently in his hand. Cow spots.   
She'd thought it funny when she'd gotten it for him a few   
weeks ago, but now it was just plain obnoxious.  
  
"Actually," he said with a grin, looking down at the cup,   
"It is coffee. I already had some blood, but I was still   
hungry and I thought I'd give it a try. It's not really all   
that bad..."  
  
She felt herself break into a wide grin. "Oh, Nick! That's   
wonderful! I..." she exclaimed as she hopped out of bed and   
ran to him. Without hesitation, she placed her hand to his   
forehead. "Your fever is gone too!"  
  
Nick smiled triumphantly, as if his entire self-worth relied   
on the fact that his overworked immune system had finally   
come through for him. "Yup. Although I still feel like   
I've been hit by a truck..."   
  
She frowned and hugged him, careful not to jostle the mug in   
his hand. "Well, Nick, this wasn't exactly what I'd hoped   
for when I gave you the Lyzatrex, but it's a good start,"   
she said with a satisfied smile, resting her head lightly on   
his broad shoulder.  
  
Nick affectionately brushed her hair absently with his free   
hand for a few moments but his fingers suddenly grew still   
as if he were pondering something of deep importance. "Nat?   
Will this stuff wear off?" he asked curiously.   
  
She brought her head off his shoulder and peered into his   
worried eyes. "To be honest, Nick. I'm not sure," she   
said honestly. From the look on his face, she could tell   
that that was _not_ what he wanted to hear.  
  
"It obliterated the vampire nucleotides, not just   
deactivated them. Don't worry about the half-mortal, half-  
vampire thing. I think if we give you a second dose it'll   
probably get rid of the rest of your vampiric cells. I only   
gave you about one cc, hardly enough to do the entire   
job..." she explained, and thankfully, the worried   
expression slowly bled out of his face.   
  
But, she thought as she looked closely at his cleanly   
shaven face, there was still _something_ there. Doubt?   
"Nick, what's the matter? Are you having doubts about   
this?"   
  
Nick looked back at her, a certain sadness clouding his   
eyes, and he shook his head, walking over to the nightstand   
to place to now cooling coffee down on the wooden surface.   
"About this?" he asked, gesturing absently towards himself.   
"Certainly not. I've wanted this for _years_. It's just...   
It's just something that Janette said. Nothing big," he   
commented, trying to brush off whatever was bothering him   
like it was nothing.  
  
"What did she say?" Nat prodded. She'd learned very early   
on in their relationship that while Nick always tried to   
hide his problems away, he was almost always screaming on   
the inside to talk about them. He just needed a little help   
getting started.  
  
"I..." he paused and then tried again. "She... She said   
that my quest for mortality was bothering her not because I   
would become mortal, but because she would lose me..." he   
whispered softly, his face filling with pain as his speech   
came to an end.   
  
"And now you're feeling guilty?" Nat questioned him softly,   
starting to realize where this was going. Guilt. That was   
Nick's arch enemy. Always lurking, waiting to strike him   
when he was vulnerable.  
  
He shrugged and looked down at the floor. "I... I don't   
know. Nat, never doubt how much I love you... It's just   
that I..." he said, struggling to find words that expressed   
the feelings he was so obviously a victim of.   
  
"You love her too, and you're not sure you could stand her   
being left behind," she finished for him, her voice raw with   
pain. Not out of her own jealousy, but out of his hurt.   
"It's ok, Nick. I understand that you two once had   
something very special. I've seen it when you've taken my   
blood. You don't have to act like you don't care about her   
anymore," she assured him, trying to be supportive. She   
knew there was no chance of him ever leaving her for   
Janette, but that didn't mean he didn't still care...   
  
"Yeah, I guess. Don't worry, Nat. I'll figure it out   
somehow, I just need time..." he said wearily, rubbing his   
eyes with his index fingers.   
  
Don't worry, Nat.   
  
Natalie blinked, as a strange tingling sensation started at   
the nape of her neck and swept around to her face.   
  
Don't worry, Natalie.   
  
And suddenly the pain came roaring back to life. She   
groaned. "Nat?" Nick said frantically as she doubled over,   
but she was unable to respond. "What's the matter!?" he   
cried, his voice echoing through her head like muddled   
thunder as the images began to replay in her mind. Blurry   
at first, but then clear as the pale moon on a crisp night.   
  
Tell me what you found!  
  
"She made me tell her!" Nat suddenly blurted out, the agony   
practically making her see stars. She screamed loudly,   
shaking wildly as she felt Nick's strong arms encircle her,   
pulling her back towards reality, making her feel safe and   
cared for.   
  
And suddenly, the pain receded. All the events of the   
previous night that had replayed in jumbled skits assembled   
in sequence, becoming crystal clear in her mind. "Oh, God!   
Schanke!" she sobbed worriedly. What had happened to   
Schanke? The last she had remembered, he had been   
brainwashed into Alihra's little servant.   
  
By this time, Nick was about sick with worry. "Natalie!" he   
yelled as he shook her hard. "What are you talking about!?   
What's going on?" he cried frantically.  
  
She shook her head, trying to calm down the panic that was   
forming but to no avail. "Nick! Alihra! She hypnotized   
me. And Schanke, she hypnotized Schanke! I... That's why   
I was having headaches I think... I was trying to remember   
but I couldn't..." she explained rapidly, but it was obvious   
that she'd lost Nick almost completely by the end.  
  
"Wait, wait, headaches?" he exclaimed, crisscrossing and   
uncrossing his arms in rapid gesticulation as he tried to   
catch up with her. "Since when were you having headaches?"   
he asked, very concerned.  
  
"Since last night. You were ill, so I kinda forgot to   
mention it... Nick, you've got to stop Alihra. She was   
threatening to kill you, I think she's a hunter..."   
Although she had managed to begin her speech at a moderate   
pace, by the end her heart and voice were racing fast enough   
to challenge a Derby winner in a sprint.   
  
"A hunter? Hunter's can't hypnotize people... They get the   
bloodlust, the anti-sunlight stuff, not hypnotism..." Nick   
said with a perplexed look, being entirely too logical for   
such a dire situation.  
  
"Well, Nick. Whatever the Hell she is," she began, growing   
angry as she thought of how Alihra had violated her, "that   
hag hypnotized Schanke, and me, and..."   
  
Nick interrupted her again. "Nat, Alihra may have done the   
things you said, but I wouldn't hardly call her a hag..." he   
said, obviously trying to put some humor into the situation.   
  
At the look on his face, it became apparent to her that he   
was humoring her. He didn't believe a word she was   
saying... "Well fine then, an exceedingly mature, fiftyish   
woman," she began angrily and then asked "Is that better?"   
with an eyebrow raised, daring him to make another joke.   
This was real damnit! Not some nightmare, which Nick   
obviously thought it was...  
  
Nick just laughed out loud and she felt her cheeks turning   
red and hot at the horrible sound of his ridicule. "Nat,   
Alihra's barely thirty, and she doesn't have a gray hair   
on her head!" he exclaimed. "Really Nat, you almost had   
me there..." he paused upon seeing the look of daggers her   
face. "Wait... You're serious, aren't you?"  
  
"Yes!" she hissed, amazed that he could be so incredibly   
thick. Thick as a goddamned brick! She wanted to scream at   
him and shake him she was getting so angry. "I am telling   
you, Alihra is dangerous! She hypnotized me, ME, a   
resistor!" she exclaimed, gesturing to herself wildly,   
thumping her chest hard for emphasis.  
  
Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath, recollecting   
himself. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said quickly in a   
cursory apology, but she could tell that he meant it.   
"You're probably going to clobber me for sticking on this   
track, but you really think Alihra is an fifty-something   
woman?"   
  
Nat could only nod, not understanding where he was going   
with this, but curious as to why he was focusing on it.   
"Well, that's news to me... because I'm seeing a dark,   
middle-eastern looking, black-haired, thirtyish year   
old..."   
  
Nat stared at him, mouth agape. "You weren't joking when   
you said that earlier?" she asked curiously. She thought   
he'd said that just to deride her... Nick shook his head.   
"Well one of us has to be wrong, because last time I   
checked, people can't change their age at will, and they   
certainly can't change their coloring..."  
  
Nick looked at her seriously. "Nat, maybe you _were_   
dreaming..." he suggested quietly, but she could tell that   
he meant no offense.   
  
"Well I wasn't dreaming at the crime scene... She looked   
the same to me there too..." she said, her voice trailing   
off as the gravity of the situation began to set it. What   
the Hell was going on?   
  
After pondering for several moments, Nick suddenly   
brightened up like an overhauled light bulb and he sprang   
towards the phone on the nightstand, quickly dialing a   
number. He looked over at Nat and then up towards the   
ceiling while it rang. Nat could vaguely hear a click on   
the other end of the line, and Nick took a deep breath   
before speaking. "Schank? Listen, this is going to sound   
like a really weird question, but what does Alihra look   
like?"  
  
Well, at least the fact that he'd picked up the phone   
probably meant he was out of Alihra's clutches, Nat thought   
as she perched herself on the edge of the bed in   
anticipation. She strained to hear what was being said on   
the other end of the line, but all she could discern was   
laughing, and Nick looked a little frustrated. "Seriously,   
Schanke. What does she look like? Humor me..." Nick said   
into the receiver, looking towards Nat and shrugging   
helplessly.   
  
More noise on the other end. "You're kidding... You've got   
to be kidding, please say your kidding!" Nick pleaded, his   
voice becoming strained as he continued, defeated, "You're   
not kidding... Listen Schanke, I'll explain later, I've got   
to go..." Nat couldn't help but snicker as Nick put the   
phone down. She didn't need to be holding the phone to   
understand _those_ expletives...   
  
"Well, Nat," he said with a harried sigh, "We've now got one   
woman, who looks like a graying fifty-year-old, a young   
black-haired middle-eastern thirty-year-old, and a creamy   
white blond of unspecified age."   
  
"So what the Hell is going on?!" Nat cried, leaping up from   
her perch on the bed. Her patience was suddenly wearing   
very thin.  
  
"I don't know. I've never encountered anything like this   
before. Maybe she's a shape shifter or something... All I   
can say for sure is that she's not a hunter, and she's not a   
vampire," Nick said, putting his head in his hands as he sat   
down heavily on the bed.   
  
"Nick, don't you think that if she can fake superficial   
appearances, she'd be able to fake that too?" Nat asked. It   
was a perfectly logical assumption, but lord, what a mess!  
  
In response, Nick got up in a huff and went to the dresser.   
The look of frustration on his face as he manhandled a pair   
of cleanly pressed pants off his valet was clearly   
inadequate towards expressing his turmoil. "Nick? Nick,   
what are you doing?" she asked cautiously.  
  
"I'm getting ready for work. When Alihra gets there, I'll   
just ask her what the Hell is going on, although in nicer   
terms I think," he stated coldly, his face suddenly becoming   
a mask of stone.  
  
"But, Nick! You can't just waltz right up to her and ask   
her that!" she exclaimed incredulously. He couldn't   
possibly expect something as direct as that to work...   
  
"Yeah? Well then what do _you_ suggest I do?" he responded   
angrily, although she knew his anger wasn't really directed   
at her. She simply remained silent. She didn't really have   
a better suggestion, even if his idea _was_ pretty set for   
failure.  
  
"That's what I thought," he commented dryly, pulling on a   
shirt and buttoning it furiously, his fingers fumbling with   
the small buttons.   
  
"Well if you're going to do this, I'm coming too," Nat   
stated calmly, waiting for Nick's overprotective side to   
burst through his well kept barriers. Watching his face,   
she was surprised to see nothing but acceptance. It was as   
if he had temporarily given up all protest. Life had   
thrown him one too many curveballs, and he just couldn't   
catch them all.   
  
Well, it was just as well. Because there was obviously   
the same question burning inside her that was burning   
inside him. Who was Alihra? Or more accurately, _what_ was   
Alihra?  
  
*****  
  
Nick stared blankly as the windshield wipers whisked the   
sleet off the windshield of his Caddy. Nat was right. This   
was never going to work... Not in eight hundred years...   
But he had to try. Alihra, she knew things that she wasn't   
supposed to know, possessed an art of illusion so developed   
that she'd had three people seeing her as three different   
women, all at the same time. And it was scary.  
  
"Nick? Are you planning on turning the car off anytime   
soon?" Nat's voice interjected his thoughts impatiently.   
  
He sighed and brought his head down on the steering wheel,   
groaning in frustration as he weakly turned the key towards   
himself. The steady murmur of the car's engine abruptly   
ceased, and all that remained was the sound of the sleet   
hitting the window in sheets of slushy mess. "Nick, it's   
ok. Everything will be ok..." Nat said worriedly, rubbing   
his back.  
  
"Oh, if you only knew..." he grumbled, sitting up and   
looking into her soft blue eyes. He really should mention   
the Enforcers to her, but they could be watching, even   
now... And he didn't need anything _new_ to worry about at   
the moment.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nat asked suspiciously,   
bringing her mitted hands and arms together in a stern cross   
across the middle of her abdomen in a perfect expression of   
'Oh lord, what now?!'  
  
"Nat, after this is over, you'll hear all about it, I swear.   
But I think we should get this out of the way first, don't   
you?" He asked, trying to escape her penetrating gaze.   
Luckily she seemed to accept that explanation, for now. He   
sighed, shuffling in his seat and grabbing the lever on the   
door, pushing it open with a hardy shove. Nat followed   
suit.   
  
They walked through the precinct parking lot in silence,   
buffeted by the chilly weather. Always chivalrous, Nick   
pulled open the precinct door and motioned for Nat to enter   
first. Nat smiled, happily complying.   
  
Schanke looked up from his desk almost immediately as if he   
had a radar which had the specific purpose of detecting when   
Nick arrived... "Hey, Nick! Do you mind, oh hi Nat," he   
paused as he noticed Nat walking in beside Nick and said   
hello to her out of politeness before continuing, "Do you   
mind maybe telling me what that phone call was about?"   
  
"Where's Alihra?" Nick asked coldly, not bothering to answer   
Schanke's question.   
  
Schanke glanced over his shoulder, "Well, she went to the   
ladies' room a few minutes ago, oh wait, there she is..."   
He pointed beyond Nick towards the bullpen where Alihra was   
now exiting into the office section of the precinct.   
Schanke waved meekly and she smiled back as she approached.   
  
Nick, however, was not interested in letting things get very   
social. The minute Alihra was within reach, he grabbed her   
arm viciously and started yanking her towards a private   
conference room. "Alihra, we need to talk, and we need to   
talk now!" he hissed into her ear.   
  
Nick didn't know if it bothered him more that Alihra wasn't   
protesting at all, or that Alihra seemed to be much more   
powerful than she looked and that she was simply allowing   
herself to be led like a dog on a leash. "Nick, what the   
Hell are you doing?" Schanke cried from somewhere behind   
them as he leaped off his chair and followed in hot pursuit,   
Natalie not two nose-lengths behind him.   
  
Soon, they were all in the conference room, Nick, Nat, and   
Schanke sitting on one side of the long conference table,   
and Alihra sitting on the other side, looking like a defiant   
child facing up to the authorities. Nick didn't wait any   
longer to begin. "Schanke, tell me what you see," he began   
mysteriously, pointing to Alihra with an outstretched index   
finger.  
  
"I see you going psycho! C'mon, Nick. What's going on?"   
Schanke asked, obviously frustrated that Nick wasn't giving   
any answers.   
  
Nick turned and stared at him coldly in silent fury, using   
every form of silent intimidation that he could muster.   
"All right! All right! I see Alihra. Very blond, and   
_very_ pretty," he smiled with a twinkle in his eye and   
winked to Alihra, who up until then had been sitting there   
silently.   
  
She stood up, the chair legs screeching in protest as they   
were pushed back across the tiled floor. "Look, it's   
obvious that you've figured out there's something not quite   
right about me. Let me just make this easier and I can   
explain everything, all right?" she said calmly, and Nick   
peered at her with narrowed eyes. It was obvious to him   
that this was a situation she'd been in before...   
  
"Fine," Nick said flatly, gesturing unmercifully with his   
hand for her to continue while at the same time trying not   
to let his face betray the surprise he felt that she'd given   
up that easily.   
  
Alihra lightly sat back down in her chair and opened her   
mouth to begin, brushing her luscious 'black' hair away from   
her face absently, but Schanke interrupted before she had a   
chance to speak. "Nick? Nat? Alihra? Would _SOMEONE_   
explain to me what the Hell is going on?!" he cried   
frantically.  
  
Alihra began, getting straight to the point. "Relax, Don.   
Your partner has obviously become upset because I do not   
appear the same to him as I do to you, or to Dr. Lambert,"   
she said coolly. "My appearances," she continued, "are in   
the eye of the beholder. I appear the way you want to see   
me, except my eyes. They are my one constant... I don't   
know why this is so, I've never met another with similar   
capabilities. I am alone," she trailed off, looking   
forlornly at the table. Nick realized that despite her cool   
appearance, this fact bothered her immensely. It was like   
Alihra felt she had no identity.  
  
"What?" Schanke asked incredulously. "You mean to tell me   
that the reason I'm seeing you as a gorgeous blond babe is   
because I _WANTED_ to see a gorgeous blond babe?! And you   
also expect me to believe that you're only appearing like   
a blond babe to _ME_ and not Nick or Natalie? That's   
ridiculous... Really, Nick. This was very funny, but..."  
  
"Schank, would you be quiet for a moment and listen?!" Nat   
snapped, obviously distressed by this news. "Why would I   
want to see you as an older woman?" she asked curiously.   
  
It was a rather open-ended question, but Alihra was quick   
to answer. "You are obviously quite attached to Nick, why   
would you want competition?" Alihra said with a grim frown.   
  
"Competition?! Am I that petty? That I would conjure you   
as an older woman because I think Nick would be attracted   
to a younger, prettier one?" Nat cried, becoming more and   
more upset she spoke.   
  
Alihra sighed. "Whether you want to admit it or not, every   
woman feels that way to some extent. Even if it's something   
you may never actively think about, it was still how you   
_wanted_ to see me. And so here I am..." she explained.  
  
Nick frowned. "Then why are your eyes the same?"   
  
Alihra shrugged. "I don't know, except that I am a firm   
believer that eyes are a pathway to the soul. All other   
looks are superficial, but the eyes, they can tell   
everything about what a person is feeling, even when they do   
not wish to express it," she said softly, looking down at   
her hands which were clasped firmly in her lap.   
  
It made sense, Nick supposed. But that still left a lot   
unanswered. A lot unsaid. "This still doesn't explain why   
you hypnotized Nat last night. And Schanke... And it   
certainly doesn't explain how..." Nick said cautiously,   
looking her in the eyes, but Schanke interrupted before he   
could finish.  
  
"Me? No one hypnotized me, buddy! I was completely lucid   
since... Wait..." Schanke claimed, his voice trailing off   
as he realized he couldn't remember what he'd done last   
night. At all.   
  
"I... I cannot tell you that," she said, her voice   
wavering. "How... How did you possibly find out about   
that?" Her chest began to heave.   
  
"It doesn't matter. We know. And why were you threatening   
to kill me?" Nick prodded, rising from his seat and leaning   
across the table, bringing his face threateningly close to   
her gold and green streaked eyes. The vampire within him   
screamed for release as he stared at her hypnotic eyes.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about!" she insisted, but   
it was obviously a lie, she'd basically confirmed that with   
her first admission. He could hear her heartbeat increasing   
rapidly as she began to panic.   
  
He looked at her coldly, having no sympathy for her   
whatsoever. This woman had hurt Natalie, and Schanke, and   
he most certainly didn't take kindly to death threats.   
Leaning imperceptibly closer, his voice low with quiet rage,   
he began, "Alihra, tell me what you know about me..."   
  
The intimidation was too much for her. She snarled, her   
fangs dropping and her eyes turned a true gold, the streaks   
flooding the entirety of her irises. "I didn't want this   
assignment!" she screeched. "I didn't want it, damnit!" she   
pounded her fists on the table.   
  
Nick felt his own fangs drop, and his vision turned an amber   
hue in instinctual response. "You... You're a vampire!" he   
hissed, standing rigidly, not backing off in the slightest.   
"But... but your heart beats!" he cried, completely   
confused, his mouth agape in a wicked display of sharp,   
pearly canines.   
  
"So does yours," she said flatly through her fangs.   
  
"But..."   
  
"You wanted to see a mortal. You saw a mortal. Right down   
to the heartbeat. The only reason you see me like this now   
is because I allowed my mental masking to slip. You can   
feel me now?" she asked, but it wasn't really a question.   
  
Nick nodded. God yes, he could feel her. The soft buzz at   
the back of his mind that LaCroix always produced was   
nothing compared to this. The air was thick with her   
presence, wrapping his mind in thick cotton. Suffocating   
him. She radiated age, and power. With great difficulty,   
he forced his fangs back up into his gums, knowing that even   
if he had been a full vampire he would never have been able   
to match her.   
  
"I'm sorry," Nick found himself saying, praying that Alihra   
wasn't going to do anything. As it were, she could probably   
snap him in two like a twig, and Natalie and Schanke would   
be left defenseless.  
  
Red, sticky tears fell from her amber eyes. "I didn't want   
this... I didn't want to have to do this. I'm not like the   
others, I believe you're not a threat..." she whispered   
frantically, breathing heavily as she sat down.   
  
"What are you talking about?" Nick asked her, keeping his   
eyes averted. He didn't want to provoke her in this   
obviously troubled state...  
  
"I'm from the Council. I was sent to asses the threat you   
posed and kill you if I saw fit," she said honestly, looking   
at him with a sniffle. "You... you don't have to act all   
submissive. I won't do anything. At least not yet..." she   
stated sadly, her eyes drooping with an age-old weariness.   
  
"The Council? You're an Enforcer? Oh God, you're the one   
who bit Janette... She said it was a man, but knowing   
Janette, that makes sense..." he whispered hoarsely as he   
grasped the entirety of the situation, suddenly realizing   
what deep trouble he was in. Here he was, cowering before   
an Enforcer who basically knew everything about him and his   
quest. Hell, he was in mid-cure. And now, he was probably   
dead...   
  
Alihra nodded mutely. "I had to asses how much everyone   
knew. I killed that poor man in the alley too. I had to,   
I had to see who all was involved," she confirmed and then   
looked to Natalie. "I'm sorry I had to hurt you Natalie, I   
thought that my mesmerizing job would stick, but it   
obviously hasn't..."   
  
Nat, who'd been in silent wonder of the scene enfolding   
before her, was shocked into speech, "I... no, I'm a   
resistor," was the only thing she could think of to say.   
  
Alihra let out a sigh. "That doesn't matter when you're as   
old as I am," she said quietly. Nick felt himself actually   
growing empathetic towards her... And it was obvious that   
she was hurting. "Nick, I can't let you live. No matter   
how much I want to. The others would realize you'd been let   
go and they'd not only kill you three, but they'd sack me as   
well," she said quietly, and Nick felt a lump forming in his   
throat.   
  
"Why am I not dead already?" Nick asked in a hoarse whisper,   
silently fearing the answer.  
  
"Because I like you. I admire you and your quest," she   
closed her eyes and sighed, weeping silently. "And... I   
want it too..." Her admission was soft, almost too quiet   
for even his enhanced ears to pick up. She looked up, her   
eyes finally changing back to their normal gold-streaked   
green. "Six thousand years... It is a long time to live   
without a soul, without any real identity except what others   
make for you," she whispered forlornly.   
  
Nick stared, his eyes wide. Six thousand years... That   
made even LaCroix seem like an infant. "Is there any way to   
save them?" Nick said, pointing towards Natalie and Schanke,   
both sitting speechless, mouths agape.   
  
Alihra shook her head. "No," she said simply. "You know   
the Code. They must die," she stated bluntly, her disgust   
with the whole idea evident through the expression on her   
face.   
  
Nat stood up abruptly at that. "What are you talking about?   
I've known for years, and I've never told a soul! Hell,   
I've even covered for you!" she said furiously as she   
slammed her right fist into the table, her cheeks turning   
slightly red as she spoke.   
  
Alihra blinked and looked at her, suddenly becoming   
defensive. "I don't really have a choice in the matter, Dr.   
Lambert. Even if I let you go, someone would come for you.   
They would know I'd been soft with you the moment I share   
blood with Elohr, my master. You _do_ know about the blood   
sharing..." Alihra said softly, looking pointedly at the   
small bite marks on Nat's neck, who immediately blushed and   
sat back down.  
  
Nick paled. Elohr... He'd heard that name before. He was   
the second in command of all of the Enforcer clan. The son   
of the eldest vampire. He'd heard about him by word-of-  
mouth, but even LaCroix had never met him. And even what   
he'd heard was sketchy. Most vampires he'd met over the   
years avoided discussion of the Enforcers like the plague.   
They were feared throughout the Community, and definitely   
not a topic of choice for casual discussion.  
  
A knock came at the door, and Alihra managed to work away   
her vampiric appearance just before the Captain stepped into   
the conference room. "You've been in here for an hour!   
Are you working on a lead?" she asked curiously, an eyebrow   
raised as she brushed a stray black hair away from her eye   
and folder her arms authoritatively across her chest.  
  
"We were discussing theories," Nick said flatly, trying   
desperately not to let the emotions generated by their tense   
confrontation seep through and into his tone.  
  
The Captain nodded suspiciously. "Ah... Well, I came to   
tell you that we have another murder. Same pattern, no   
marks except the two cuts on the neck," she said as she   
handed Schanke, who was sitting closest to the door and to   
her, a file. "The address and particulars are in there.   
The body is already waiting at the morgue for you, Dr.   
Lambert."   
  
Cohen looked pointedly at Schanke and Nick. "Please bag   
this one, guys. I don't want this developing into a rampant   
serial killer case," she warned them sternly before exiting.   
  
Nick turned to Alihra. "Was it you?" he demanded coldly.   
This was all so unnecessary. One person had already been   
killed because of him, he didn't need a second death on his   
head.   
  
Alihra shook her head. "No," she said, a strange tone   
entering her voice. "But as long as I'm in town, I might as   
well take care of this offender as well..." she said with a   
bitter sigh. She didn't like her job, not one bit. That   
much was evident.  
  
"What about me?" Nick found himself asking hoarsely,   
desperately not wanting to hear her answer.  
  
"I'll," Alihra began, her voice breaking as she began to cry   
lightly again. "Later. I will deal with you and your   
friends later..." she whispered as she stood up to leave to   
conference room.  
  
Nick sighed in relief collectively with Nat and Schanke as   
she departed. "Nick, what are we going to do? If we help   
her solve the case do you think she'll relent?" Nat asked   
worriedly as Schanke sat in a speechless daze.   
  
Nick shrugged. "I don't know, Nat. I just don't know," he   
stated honestly. A death sentence was practically   
irreversible in the vampire underworld. Enforcers, even   
emotionally wrecked ones, were not vampires to be trifled   
with.  
  
*****  
  
"Nick, Schanke, this wasn't a vampire kill."  
  
Natalie's voice brought him out of the shocked daze he'd   
been sitting in since they'd arrived at the morgue. "Huh?"   
Nick asked, practically falling out of his chair at the   
interruption.   
  
Nat pointed towards the neck of the victim lying on her   
autopsy table, and Schanke moved in closer to see what she   
was pointing at. "These two 'bite marks' were made by a   
needle. There's also no evidence of vampire saliva in the   
wounds, but it was so similar I'd almost say the murderer   
was trying to make it look like a vampire kill," Nat   
commented softly, the professional confident tone completely   
gone from her voice. She was being affected by the events   
at hand more than she probably wanted to admit.  
  
"Are you telling me that some wacko figured that he was   
going to go waltzing around like Count Dracula?" Schanke   
asked incredulously, finally breaking the silence that he'd   
kept since Alihra had revealed her motives.   
  
"Yes, Schank. That's exactly what I'm saying, although not   
quite that elegantly," Nat said lightly, giving Schanke a   
smirk despite herself.   
  
Schanke slammed his hand down on the desk. "Damn! That   
means Alihra is probably going to be on our backs again,   
real soon..." he commented, the worry in his voice steadily   
increasing. "Nick, what are we going to do? You could   
bring us both across, couldn't you?"  
  
Nick looked down at the floor and shrugged. "Alihra may   
still want to find the mortal who did this, Enforcers don't   
police just vampires... And yes, but bringing you both   
across is an option which I'd rather not consider, and which   
I'm not even sure if I could do," Nick answered hesitantly.   
He'd hoped that neither Schanke nor Natalie would've thought   
of that...  
  
Schanke peered at him with a raised eyebrow, "Can't, or   
won't?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
That was a good question. In the face of death, _would_ he   
actually bring them across? And if he did, would he regret   
it for the rest of his life? Hopefully, he would never have   
to decide. "Schanke, with that drug Nat's given me, I   
honestly don't know if I can. Not to mention my track   
record with fledglings has been less than stellar..." he   
commented honestly. He would save the rest for later, if it   
was necessary. A feeling of dread began to flood his system   
as he realized that it probably was.  
  
Schanke looked at the ground. "Oh," he said, obviously   
disappointed that it wasn't simply Nick's morals getting in   
the way of the decision.   
  
"Schanke, I'll figure something out, I promise," Nick found   
himself saying before he could stop himself. Like what the   
Hell was there for him to figure out? The Enforcers wanted   
all of them dead. End of story. And definitely not much   
leeway.   
  
"Well, we can still try and find the person who did this,   
that may get us into Alihra's favor..." Nat said hopefully,   
but it was something she knew was pretty much destined for   
failure.   
  
Nick stared at her and immediately felt the guilt constrict   
his chest. She and Schanke were going to die. And it would   
be his fault. Because he'd been too stupid to walk away   
when he could've, when he'd been presumed dead. He'd come   
back, and despite his better judgment, he'd stayed. And now   
they would all pay for it with a fatal price.  
  
"Nick, don't you dare start feeling guilty about this!" Nat   
said when she saw the look on his face change. "This is all   
of our faults. We're in this together, and if anyone is   
taking blame, it should be split three ways between us..."   
  
Schanke nodded mutely in agreement, but Nick still couldn't   
see it. How could they even pretend that this wasn't all   
his doing? How could they... He was broken from his   
thoughts when Natalie planted him with a desperate kiss in   
an attempt to distract him. "Nick, stop it, now! We will   
get through this, even if I have to knock your head in and   
drag you through," Nat commented with a little laugh.   
  
Schanke smiled as well, "I agree, but don't expect me to   
kiss you..."  
  
Nick couldn't help but grin in response. "Schanke, I think   
I'd rather have Nat do violence to my head than have you   
kiss me, no offense," he said playfully, feeling a strange   
tingling sensation beginning in his abdomen, but choosing to   
ignore it. "I'm sorry I'm being all doom and gloom about   
this, I know that we should be working out a plan of escape,   
so to say. It's just that, the Enforcers are not ones to   
show mercy..."   
  
"Hey, there's always a first time for everything," Nat said   
optimistically, and Nick couldn't help but admire her for   
it. She was so... so... incredible. He couldn't even   
begin to put her into words. And he didn't want to. He   
liked her just the way she was. What on Earth had he done   
without her? It almost seemed like eons ago, another part   
of his life that he cared not to remember. The tingling   
sensation he felt earlier was getting worse.   
  
He was struck from his thoughts when he felt a burning   
sensation in his chest, and suddenly an incredibly intense   
urge to feed. Blinking as Nat's and Schanke's heartbeats   
began to flood his ears, he clutched at his chest, panting   
hard. What was going on? "Nick, what's wrong?" Nat asked   
worriedly, placing her hands on his shoulders to support him   
as he felt the muscles in his legs giving out.   
  
His world turning a blaze of gold, he found himself snarling   
wildly as the pain began to set in. He blinked furiously,   
trying to breathe, but it was if the air itself was crushing   
him. "Nat..." he hissed through his taut lips, "Please..."   
he managed to utter before muscle spasms engulfed him. He   
felt Schanke's hands in addition to Nat's, straining to keep   
him upright.   
  
"Nick, what? Please, what's wrong?" he heard Natalie cry   
through the thunder. "Schanke, get some blood out of the   
fridge!" he heard her demand. Two hands left his shoulders.   
  
He let out a forced moan as his nerves all seemed to fire in   
rapid succession, leaving him on fire and freezing at the   
same time. His teeth began to chatter, even though he felt   
like he was being flamed in the fiery pits of Hell. Stars   
exploded in front of him, completely blinding him, and   
despite Nat's efforts to keep him standing, he felt himself   
collapsing to the floor and onto his knees with a painful   
crack.   
  
Something cold was placed in his hand. Something that could   
only be... He growled wildly, a complete slave to his   
vampiric instincts as he took the blood pack to his lips and   
practically ripped it a apart in an effort to get to the   
blood inside.  
  
The pack was soon empty, but he was too crazed to care. He   
sucked at it wildly, trying to get every last drop, panting   
sharply between swallows, like a desperate addict. It was   
like he hadn't fed in a month, he was starving.   
  
Another pack appeared before him and he completely drained   
it as well, throwing it to the floor in a bloodlust induced   
rage. Growling, he exposed his gleaming fangs to his two   
observers and he tried to get up, but instead fell back onto   
the floor, hitting his head on the cold tile with a loud   
crack. That was enough to bring him back to his senses.   
  
Bloodsweat dripped down his face as he lay there panting.   
The thunder in his ears went away, the wild chorus of   
beating hearts receding dimly into the background. He   
sighed heavily, surprised to find that he was still very   
hungry.   
  
"Nat, what just happened?" he heard Schanke ask curiously.   
  
"I don't know!" Nat sounded completely dumbfounded.   
  
"Nick?" Nat's hands were at his chest shaking him, but he   
couldn't open his eyes. They were just too heavy to lift,   
his jaw too heavy to open. A warm finger gently pushed his   
his eyelid up, and the light brought shoots of pain to his   
brain. He clenched his eyelids shut, still finding himself   
unable to respond even though he was completely aware. He   
tried to move and found himself strangely paralyzed.   
  
"Well, he's awake... but..." he could hear Natalie mumbling   
to herself. He was hungry. His insides were practically   
clawing at him, chewing him out from the inside. He wanted   
to tell them... he wanted to, but he couldn't. It was like   
he was completely frozen. Hunger induced paralysis...   
Something he'd never had the unfortunate chance to   
experience until now.  
  
There was a cold thing on his chest suddenly, probably a   
stethoscope but he couldn't tell for sure. "Oh, God. His   
heart isn't beating anymore..." Nat said frantically, and   
he could feel her hands probing him here and there.   
"Everything else seems fine... Schanke, he must've   
reverted..."  
  
"You mean that Lyzastuff didn't work?"   
  
"I don't know, I'm not sure..." Nat whispered, worriedly.   
"Nick?" he felt her warm hand patting the side of his   
cheek, trying to get him to wake up.   
  
He managed to groan lightly in response, the pain in his gut   
was starting to make him see stars even though his eyes were   
closed. "Nick, if you can hear me, make noise!" Nat said   
frantically, obviously hoping his groan hadn't been a   
fluke.   
  
Nick made a gurgling noise in his throat, unable to do much   
else. His insides were screaming. "God, Nick. Do you   
know what's wrong with you?"   
  
He gurgled again. Just let her realize he needed blood...   
Please... "Maybe he needs more chow..." Schanke mumbled,   
obviously looking down on Nick from somewhere almost   
immediately behind Nat.   
  
"Schanke, he couldn't possibly, he just had two pints!" Nat  
rebuked his theory almost immediately.  
  
Nick made another gurgling noise. Please. Blood. Please!   
His entire body was burning with need... "You need more   
blood, Nick?" Nat asked, amazed. He confirmed almost   
instantly.  
  
Within minutes he felt a prick in his arm. "Jeez, Nat. Is   
he supposed to absorb blood that fast?" Schanke asked,   
amazed. Natalie must've responded with either a nod or a   
shake of her head, because Nick couldn't hear her reply.   
After what seemed like eons, he could feel the burning   
subside, and feeling returned to his limbs.   
  
With some difficulty, Nick opened his eyes to a world of   
amber colored pain. "Welcome back, buster," Schanke   
commented playfully as he sat up weakly, but Nick couldn't   
help but notice the worry behind his and Nat's eyes.   
  
He looked from Schanke to Nat, who was removing the IV setup   
from his arm. "More," he whispered in a choked sob, tears   
of pain beginning to flood from his eyes as his gut began to   
wildly cramp again, urging him to feed.   
  
Natalie put her hand on his cheek. "More?" she asked in   
disbelief but reached over towards the cooler that now sat   
beside him and pulled out another pint bag. He drained it   
immediately and went for another, not remembering a time   
when he'd ever been this hungry, not caring that the blood   
he was desperately consuming was human. Even as a fledgling   
suffering from the first hunger, it hadn't been this bad.   
Shaking with need, he grabbed a third. A fourth. A fifth.   
  
It didn't seem to end. He was ravenous. Finally on his   
sixth, he collapsed back onto the floor shaking like a leaf   
fluttering in the wind. "Nick? Are you all right?" Nat   
asked hesitantly, her hand on his back.   
  
"No..." he whispered, hugging his knees closely to him. He   
felt like he was going to puke. Everything hurt.   
  
"I... I think you reverted Nick. I think the Lyzatrex   
failed..." Nat whispered, rubbing his back in soothing   
circles, trying to calm his tense muscles.   
  
"No, not yet. Something still lingers," he moaned, his   
entire body aching. The hunger was gone, and he could hear   
a heart beating wildly in his ears. His heart... "I can   
still hear my heartbeat..." he said with a shocked whisper,   
inhaling sharply as his tortured nerves continued to stab   
him.   
  
"Nick, I listened to your heartbeat while you were out, it   
was gone..." Nat said softly, as if she were afraid the   
truth would hurt him. But even so, she placed her hand to   
his jugular and gasped. "Ohmygod, you're right! The   
Lyzatrex! It must be failing in stages. That was just your   
vampire side trying to break through, but it obviously   
didn't succeed," she exclaimed rapidly.  
  
Nick wobbly got up off the floor with the help of Schanke   
and Nat, his muscles weak and strained. "Is this going to   
happen again?" he asked fearfully. He didn't even want to   
think about what would happen if it occurred while he was at   
the precinct, or in a public place.  
  
"Nick, I hate to say this, but I think it might, if this was   
any indication. You're body is at war with itself... God,   
I've made another mistake! Another failure!" Natalie cried,   
tears falling down her pale face. "I'm sorry, Nick," she   
whispered sincerely, taking him into a firm embrace.   
  
Nick sighed, his breath coming in weak, ragged gasps.   
"Please, just take me home..." he whispered tiredly, resting   
his head on Nat's shoulder.   
  
Nat nodded softly and worked herself under one of Nick's   
arms, clasping her arm behind his back to support him.   
Schanke followed suit and put Nick's other arm over his   
shoulder. Nick closed his eyes to the pain as they slowly   
guided him out of Nat's office.   
  
*****  
  
Surprisingly enough, Alihra met them at the door of the   
Coroners' Building. "I checked around, no one saw anything.   
Hey, what happened?" she asked, suddenly concerned when she   
saw Nick leaning heavily against his two friends.   
  
Natalie sighed as Nick's weight rested against her. God,   
this was her doing. She'd given him so much hope,   
especially when the Lyzatrex had seemed to be working at   
first, only for him to come crashing down. What's worse is   
that she couldn't tell if he was being despondent because he   
felt ill, or if it was because he was disappointed, or if it   
was a combination of both.   
  
"The potential cure I tried on him didn't work. He's slowly   
reverting," Nat said softly, not surprised that Nick hadn't   
said anything. It looked like Nick was practically asleep   
on his feet.  
  
Alihra put her hand to her chest, "Oh, I'm so sorry," she   
said sincerely. Like she hadn't been planning to kill them   
at all. Like she was some dear friend who knew exactly what   
Nick was going through.  
  
"Alihra, what do you care? It's not like you were going to   
let him live long enough to enjoy it even if it had   
worked..." Nat said caustically before she could stop   
herself. Great way to win her over, Lambert.   
  
Alihra looked appropriately set in her place. "I'm sorry, I   
deserved that," she admitted, looking down at the ground in   
shame. Nat couldn't help but notice that now that she'd   
been exposed for what she was, Alihra was less intimidating   
than a mouse.   
  
"Anyway," Schanke interrupted, sensing the coldness in their   
speech, "Nat discovered that the kill wasn't made by a   
vampire."   
  
"Really?" Alihra said, her eyebrow raised, green eyes   
flashing.   
  
"Yeah, we think a mortal did it on purpose to look like a   
vampire kill," Schanke commented, guiding Nick down off the   
sidewalk and onto the asphalt carefully.   
  
Nat glanced around cautiously. The parking lot was very   
dark, she'd never enjoyed walking in it at night while she   
was alone. She was actually happy to have Alihra there for   
once. It made her feel a lot safer knowing that they were   
being accompanied by one of the planet's most perfect   
predators.   
  
"I wonder why," Alihra said curiously, rocking a bit on her   
heeled pumps.   
  
"To track you down!" a baritone voice came through the   
darkness, somewhere behind a nearby pillar.   
  
Alihra spun on her feet, glancing this way and that,   
perfectly able to see in the darkness, even though as hard   
as Nat tried, she couldn't see anything but inanimate   
shadows. "Hello Alihra, so nice to see you," a man in a   
dark trench coat stepped out of the shadows, lighting a   
cigarette as he came to a stop in front of her. Its   
glowing embers provided an eerie cast to his face, making   
it seem abnormally pale and gaunt.   
  
"Who are you?" Alihra said, obviously trying very hard not   
to succumb to her vampiric urge to rip this threatening   
man's throat out.   
  
The man smiled. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist   
investigating a vampire kill, and I knew you were in town.   
My source at the Raven told me all the details. Seems you   
had a little problem with Brabant. He's a hard one to keep   
a lid on, never was able to track him down, his ancient   
bastard of a father who I never had the fortune of   
successfully killing, kept getting in the way..." the man   
said amusedly, flicking the ash from his cigarette and   
lightly gestured with his free hand. Six more men stepped   
out of the shadows, surrounding them.  
  
Alihra stood fast, still not committing to any action, and   
Nat felt herself becoming very nervous. This was a hunter,   
it was obvious! Why didn't Alihra do something? With Nick   
as a crutch, she and Schanke were pretty much out of the   
picture.  
  
"That's right, dear. Snarl for me. Show me what a big bad   
Enforcer vampire you are," the man said, speaking like he   
was someone swooning over an infant. When Alihra merely   
glared, the man threw his cigarette to the ground and   
stamped it out. "You disappoint me, Alihra. I've been   
tracking you for a good decade. Now I find you and I'm   
greeted with... well with you. Ok, boys," the man said,   
gesturing with a blase sweep of his hand.   
  
Nat held her breath as each of the surrounding men pulled   
weapons out of their coats, all obviously geared towards   
taking down a less than cooperative vampire. "Now, Alihra,   
you all can come quietly, or you can put up a fight," he   
said with a maniacal laugh.  
  
Alihra snarled in response, her eyes glowing bright amber,   
arching her neck like a cobra ready to strike.   
  
EEEEIIIII  
  
Her fangs revealed, she let out the ungodly screech, and Nat   
unsuccessfully tried to cover her ears. She'd never heard   
Nick even attempt to make a noise like that, she doubted   
that he could.   
  
"Much better, Alihra!" The man giggled as he pranced   
backwards trying to induce her to take a step forward.   
There was a breath of freezing night air as she disappeared   
from her current position, and reappeared behind one of the   
men in the circle surrounding them. She took quick leave of   
him, draining him like he was a plaything, and he slumped to   
the ground with a sick, hollow thud.   
  
Nat couldn't stop herself as her instincts of self-defense   
kicked in. She let go of Nick and kicked out towards the   
closest of the six men, catching her pointed shoe in his   
exposed crotch. The man buckled in pain and cried out as   
another one grabbed her strongly from behind. "Ah, ah,   
little missy. I wouldn't interfere if I were you," he   
hissed in her ear, his hot breath clawing at the nape of her   
neck as he closed his grip on her midsection uncomfortably   
tighter.   
  
Suddenly, there was a thud as Schanke clobbered him from   
behind with a swift punch, and Nat sighed in relief.   
Apparently, Schanke had set Nick down gently on the pavement   
before coming to her aid. Unfortunately, the remaining men,   
who had been distracted by Alihra's advances, began to   
notice that the mortals in the group were putting up   
resistance. One of them brought out what looked to be a   
teargas gun, and suddenly, there was a strange hissing noise   
echoing through the cold air.   
  
Nat felt herself get lightheaded. Gas. They'd used gas!   
Her last sleepy thought as she slipped to the ground was   
that she hoped Alihra hadn't waited to long to strike...   
Again she heard that awful screeching noise, a scuffle,   
discharge of numerous weapons, and then it went silent as   
the rush of blood in her ears engulfed her.  
  
*****  
  
It was black. When had it gotten so dark? It was cold too.  
  
"Nat?"   
  
Someone was shaking her.   
  
"Nat, wake up. Please, wake up!" a familiar voice was   
bidding her to wake, no, pleading with her. It sounded   
worried.   
  
She groaned and cracked an eyelid open. "Damn!" she managed   
to say through her parched lips as her head began to ache   
like two jackhammers were playing tag inside it. Whatever   
drug had been in that gas must've been pretty nasty.   
  
"Shhh, don't sit up too quickly," Schanke said as he helped   
her up, his warm hand supporting her back as she rose into   
an upright position, dizzy and nauseous.   
  
Squinting in the dim, soft light, Nat finally got a good   
look at her surroundings. She was in a small barred cell,   
maybe twelve by fourteen feet if that much. The floor was a   
pale, cold concrete, no padding whatsoever, and there was a   
small window up near the top of the wall in the left hand   
corner. Enough to light the cell dimly but not enough to   
hurt Nick...   
  
Nick... Nat glanced around frantically until she located a   
rather large, unmoving lump on the floor in the corner. It   
was Nick, she could tell from the shock of mussy blond hair   
on the crumpled figure's head. She sighed in infinite   
relief as her eyes located him. He was crumpled up like a   
neglected toy, his arms clutched around his stomach,   
breathing rather evenly. Asleep. He was asleep. Nat again   
sighed with relief, at least he hadn't had another one of   
those awful attacks.   
  
"Where are we?" she asked hoarsely, looking around.   
Something was missing... Something important. She finally   
realized that Alihra was nowhere to be found, and despite   
her dislike of the woman, Natalie found herself feeling   
worried.   
  
Schanke shrugged. "I've only been awake about an hour.   
Nick's been out like a light the whole time, I think that   
gas really got him good... But I haven't seen anyone walk   
through here."   
  
Nat took another look at Nick. Why had the hunters left him   
here and not Alihra? Then it occurred to her that they   
didn't know he was a vampire. For all intents and purposes,   
he appeared to be a mortal. His heartbeat was a little   
slow, and his temperature a little low, but they were more   
similar to mortal vital stats then vampire ones. Not to   
mention that he'd been knocked out cold by that gas, and she   
suspected that it had just been for their benefit and not   
Alihra's.   
  
She got up and walked over to the door of the tiny cell,   
jerking at the bars with all her might. The door gave about   
a centimeter forward and backward on its rusty hinges,   
moaning pitifully in protest. Nick would have no trouble   
ripping it open if he were awake and all vampire again. But   
at this moment, neither of those two premises were met, she   
and Schanke would have to fend for themselves.   
  
"Should I try and wake him up?" Schanke asked curiously,   
pointing towards Nick's unconscious form.   
  
Nat shook her head. "No, he might need the sleep," she said   
absently, testing the barred door once again, only   
receiving another horrific groan as it rocked back and   
forth on its joints. Sticking her head into the narrow gap   
between two of the bars, she glanced as far to the left and   
right as she could. There was a small, three foot wide   
corridor in front of the cell that led off indefinitely in   
either direction, with another cell directly across from   
them, and to either side of that. The concrete walls to the   
left and right prevented her from seeing any length down   
either side, beyond the three cells in her direct view.   
  
Nat went back to Schanke and sat down in a huff. "Well, it   
looks like we're stuck here for now. I wonder why they took   
us?" Schanke just shrugged. He was as much in the dark as   
she was, and at least she'd had _some_ experience with   
hunters.   
  
Somewhere down the hall an unearthly scream ripped through   
the air, echoing harshly down towards their cell, and Nat   
squeezed her eyes shut. A feeling of dread set into her   
stomach like a brick as she suddenly developed a very good   
idea as to where Alihra was... "God, I think they're   
torturing her..." she whispered fearfully, her eyes   
subconsciously darting towards Nick.   
  
"But why?" Schanke asked, looking in the direction the sound   
had come somewhat worriedly. Nick hadn't really told him   
about hunters. Schanke didn't know...  
  
"They're hunters Schanke. That's what they do," she said,   
gritting her teeth. She was suddenly very thankful that   
Nick was still under the influence of the Lyzatrex. At   
least he wouldn't be subjected to the same fate as Alihra.  
  
"Comfy?" a voice asked. Nat and Schanke both looked up in   
shock to see the same man they'd seen last night, standing   
there in front of their cell with a grisly smile of sadistic   
contentment.   
  
Nat ignored his question. "What do you want? Why have you   
kept us?" Nat demanded coldly, standing up quickly to look   
him daringly in the eyes.   
  
"My, you are a spunky one!" the man commented gleefully.   
"Well if you must know, you all are just chow. We like to   
keep our vampires fed, at least for awhile..." he said with   
a haughty snicker.   
  
"You, are a sick monster!" Nat screamed, trying desperately   
not to launch herself at the bars. She would not lose her   
temper. Would not lose... her... temper... She took a deep   
breath. She needed to keep her cool if they ever hoped to   
get out of there. there would probably be a tiny opening   
somewhere along the line, a brief chance of escape. And if   
she angered their captor, that might ruin it.  
  
"Ah well, I suppose I am. But right now, I've got a   
vampire who is just _dying_ to see me again. Ta ta..." he   
said cheerfully, laughing at his own pun as he grinned   
wildly and turned to skip down the corridor like a giddy   
two-year-old on a sugar high.   
  
Nat felt hot tears start to fall down her stinging cheeks.   
"Nat, shhh, it's all right," Schanke soothed her as she sat   
back down onto the cold ground. "There's nothing you can do   
about it, anyway," he said softly. "We'll find some way out   
of this..." he rubbed her back softly, taking her into a   
platonic, comforting embrace.   
  
"Schanke, Alihra may not have been the most amiable of   
vampires, but she still didn't deserve this," Nat sighed,   
her sentence punctuated by another inhuman scream of agony   
from down the hall. A snarl and a growl followed, and then   
the scream of what was most certainly a mortal man. Nat   
smiled. At least Alihra wasn't making it easy for them...  
  
"Yeah, well," Schanke said staring down at the floor sadly.   
"I kinda feel guilty for feeling this, but I can't help but   
wonder if this will get the Enforcers off our backs..."   
  
Nat looked at him, understanding where he was coming from.   
For the briefest of moments, she'd thought the same thing.   
"I don't think so Schanke, they'll send even more Enforcers   
into Toronto if she were to disappear. Not to mention that   
it's doubtful that we ourselves will get out of this   
alive..." she commented bitterly. It seemed like it was   
just one thing after another these days.   
  
In the corner, Nick suddenly started as another howl   
penetrated the cell, his eyes flying open in surprise.   
"Nat?" he said with a gasp as he pushed himself into a   
sitting positing with his palms.   
  
"Nick, it's all right," Nat said, scootching over towards   
him.  
  
Another scream.   
  
Nick winced. He didn't have to ask what was going on. He   
just knew. "They're killing her..." he whispered, his voice   
a harrowing picture of his emotions.   
  
Nat hugged him close as he started to tremble at the sounds   
of her screams. He was afraid... Hunters were something   
that every vampire feared, she was sure of that. Nick had   
never said it in so many words, but it was probably his   
worst fear ever. He'd told her of many instances in the   
past where he'd come within an inch of his life at the hands   
of some crazed hunter or religious fanatic. The most recent   
being in 1994 when a woman had been hunting people and had   
just by accident discovered that she could hunt one of the   
world's most ultimate predators. Him...   
  
"She doesn't deserve this," he commented softly into her   
shoulder, breathing softly into her neck as another shiver   
coursed through him. But he suddenly went silent, a quick   
gasp cutting him off.   
  
"Nick?" she asked cautiously.   
  
He let out a small whimper, followed by a rather deep growl.   
Nat could feel his back vibrating as he fingers ran over his   
his torn shirt. He clutched at his stomach and let out a   
cry of pain as he ripped himself from her grasp, backing up.   
  
Schanke was beside her in an instant. "Nick?" he called,   
but Nat knew it was no good. Nick was having another   
attack. And there was nothing she could do to help him.   
  
She put out her hand to stop Schanke from advancing.   
"Schanke, stop. He's hungry, and we don't have anything to   
give him..." She whispered sadly, desperately wanting to go   
to him, but knowing that she would probably lose her life if   
she did. Schanke reluctantly sat back on his haunches, not   
going any further.   
  
Nick snarled in a wide grimace, his fangs dripping with   
salivation as he threw himself back against the far cement   
wall. "Stay away," he warned in a guttural, vampire-laden   
voice, shaking as he pressed himself into the wall as hard   
as he could, his muscles straining at the effort. Blinking   
furiously, his eyes leaked a steady stream of red tears as   
he clutched wildly at his abdomen.   
  
Another scream ripped through the corridor, followed by   
several shouts of men. It sounded kind of like "Hold her,   
you idiots!" but Nat couldn't be sure.  
  
Nick cocked his head to the side, listening calmly despite   
the sweat that was now pouring down his face. And suddenly,   
he flew up off his feet and flung himself at the door. Nat   
screamed, startled as it swung open almost immediately upon   
impact. Nick stumbled around for a moment trying to gain   
his footing, a bit stunned from the force of his crash, and   
then he was off down the corridor faster than Nat could   
discern.   
  
Schanke leapt up off his feet as Nat sat there staring in   
shock. She hadn't expected that at all... Sounds growls,   
frantic shouts, and weapons firing echoed through the   
corridor. "C'mon, Nat!" Schanke screamed in her ear, and   
Nat was finally able to come to grips with what had just   
happened.   
  
They took of down the hall, the breeze hitting their faces   
as they ran. In the craziness of the moment, she blindly   
followed Schanke for a good fifty feet before she realized   
something was wrong. "Schanke, wait!" Schanke came to a   
halt just in front of her, so abruptly that she almost ran   
into him.  
  
"What?" he hissed, but then he cocked his head to the side.   
He heard what she heard too. Nothing. It had gone silent.   
  
He motioned to her with his head, his cop persona obviously   
taking over as he hugged the walls with his back,   
stealthily approaching the narrow blue door that lead to who   
knew where. All Nat knew is that that was where Nick had   
gone, and that was where all the noise had been coming from   
before it had stopped.   
  
Schanke grabbed the door and opened it a crack, peering in.   
He gasped and yanked it open all the way. Nat and Schanke   
both walked into the small room. Blood was streaked   
everywhere, dripping off the walls and onto the floor.   
Three men, including their captor lay, on the ground   
unconscious with lightly bleeding wounds in their necks, and   
two quite dead, although it appeared from their own weaponry   
and not from either of the two vampires in residence.   
Alihra was on a small steel table off to the side of what   
looked to be a miniature torture chamber, strapped down   
harshly with twine ropes and rosaries, and from the stench,   
probably all dipped in garlic.   
  
She weakly looked towards them and gasped in pain, her eyes   
streaked crimson and gold. "Alihra?" Nat called, trying to   
determine if the vampire was lucid.   
  
"Please," the vampire gasped, "Please untie me!" She   
whimpered and started to struggle wildly against her   
restraints, yanking them this way and that only to receive   
new cuts for her troubles. Blood welled up where the twine   
had rubbed her skin away.   
  
Nat rushed over to the hurt vampire. "Shhh. Alihra, stop   
moving, I'll get you out," she tried to sooth Alihra as she   
attempted to untie the garlic-slippery ropes and rosaries.   
Finally, she managed to get most of them off, enough for   
Alihra to rip herself out on her own.   
  
Alihra coughed, spitting up a bit of blood. "Nick!" she   
cried worriedly, pointing across the room. Nat whipped   
around in the direction of Alihra's outstretched index   
finger, she'd forgotten all about Nick while she'd been   
helping Alihra.   
  
Schanke was hunched over a body, all Nat could see was   
the legs due to the angle. "Shhh, Nick. Calm down.   
Breathe! There, that's good. Take it easy, you'll be all   
right," Schanke was saying calmly, and Nat sighed in   
relief and turned back to Alihra, knowing that Schanke had   
enough sense to ask for her help if something was   
genuinely life threatening.   
  
"Alihra, are you all right?" she asked as the elder vampire   
started to shake wildly.   
  
Alihra sucked in a quick breath. "There are splinters,"   
she said painfully, "In my thigh. And..." she started to   
explain more but she lost her train of thought, obviously   
quite out of it. She stared ahead blankly and Nat had to   
snap her fingers in front of Alihra's face to get her to   
keep talking.   
  
Alihra blinked and licked her lips. "I'm hungry..." she   
whispered, but she appeared to be in control for now.   
  
Nat turned to Schanke. "We've got to get these two out of   
here, and we have to get the police in here," she said as   
Schanke turned around. "What's wrong with Nick?" she asked,   
wanting to make sure she hadn't been wrong in her earlier   
assessment.  
  
Schanke looked at her grimly. "He's a bit hungry, Nat," he   
said tensely, the lines on his face showing his strain, and   
his worry. Nat resisted the urge to laugh. Hunger seemed   
to be the common medical problem of the day. Too bad it was   
a bit more serious when it involved vampires... "Why don't   
we get you three out of here, and then I'll call for backup   
and take care of this..." he said as he threw Nick's arm   
around his shoulder and stood up. Nat did the same with   
Alihra and as a group they limped back down the corridor   
where they had come from, luckily finding that the other   
direction led to a nice clean office and a small parking   
garage.  
  
*****  
  
"Stop, I'm through," Nick said softly, raising his hand to   
ward off Nat's hand as she tried to offer Nick yet another   
bottle of his preferred beverage. When he and Nat had first   
limped through the door of the lift, he had been able to   
think of nothing except the hunger, and he had been amazed   
that Nat had remained unscathed through the whole ordeal.   
But now, numerous bottles and a brief nap later, the beast   
was sated. At least for now. Sighing, he lay back on the   
couch as Nat pressed her hand to his forehead.  
  
"Nick, I'm sorry," she said softly, brushing a stray lock of   
his hair out of his face.   
  
Nick sighed. "Is it all gone now?" he asked, his voice   
hoarse and sore. His entire body ached, and he felt more   
weary than he'd ever been before. Nat nodded and he   
couldn't help but suppress a sob. "I really thought it was   
working this time," he said quietly as he looked forlornly   
towards the closing shutters that warranted the arrival of a   
new day. So. He sighed again. Sunlight was to be his   
enemy for a good while longer.   
  
The pain in Nat's eyes told him that this was as hard for   
her as it was for him. Hell, she'd hesitated in telling him   
that she'd found a possible cure, just to avoid getting his   
hopes up. "So did I, Nick," she whispered.   
  
"While you were asleep earlier, I took a sample back to the   
lab. The Lyzatrex has no effect anymore, it's like your   
body developed an overnight immunity," she said softly as   
she sighed and put her head in her hands. "If I had tried a   
larger dose to start out with, it might've worked, but I   
don't know. I just don't know!" she sobbed, looking into   
his eyes with a pained stare.   
  
"It's all right, Nat. It's not your fault," he whispered   
quietly, taking her hands into his firmly, looking at her   
reassuringly.   
  
She shook her head. "I can't stop thinking about what might   
have happened if I'd just given you a full dose to begin   
with... It _did_ work, but now the window of opportunity is   
gone because I wanted to play it safe, just like always..."   
she said angrily. She was angry with herself...   
  
"Shhh," he soothed her, hugging her closely to him, trying   
to be supportive even though he felt as down as she did, if   
not more. "Nat, this just means that we've got a base. We   
know it worked once... Maybe another derivative will do   
the trick," he said, trying to reassure both of them at the   
same time.   
  
Nat wiped a stray tear away from her red cheeks and inhaled   
deeply, trying to recompose herself. "I know, Nick. Hell,   
I'm the one who should be telling _you_ this! But I... I   
just can't help feeling this way... I'll figure it out, I   
just need some time..." she whispered disjointedly as her   
emotions threatened to take over her again.   
  
Nick tried to comfort her, closing his eyes briefly to the   
pain of failure, but it didn't go away. It never went away.   
He didn't know how much more of this he could take. He   
wasn't built of optimism... "Where's Alihra?" he asked, the   
fact suddenly occurring to him that his potential   
executioner was nowhere in sight.   
  
"She's in the bedroom sleeping off the worst of her   
injuries. I didn't think you'd mind if I let her have the   
bed..." Nat replied, her eyes darting upwards towards the   
door of his bedroom.  
  
Nick sighed. "Of course I don't mind, Nat," he said,   
accenting his speech with several yawns.   
  
Suddenly, the lift began to hum. Nat looked towards the   
sliding door far across from the sofa. "That couldn't be   
Schanke! He called an hour ago and said he was going to be   
at the precinct clearing things up for at least another two   
hours!" Nat exclaimed, her eyes suddenly turning suspicious.   
  
Nick sat up and looked towards the lift, desperately trying   
to remember who all had the codes to his apartment now...   
Let's see, Schanke and Nat... and... and... That was it.   
Technically no one else should've been able to get through   
his security system. "Nat, why don't you go upstairs and   
stay with Alihra?" he suggested, the edge in his voice more   
than a little apparent, but Nat firmly shook her head.   
  
The lift came to a stop and the door slid open, revealing a   
tall, rather handsome man with skin the color of a rich milk   
chocolate. He was large, muscular large, although most of   
it was hidden underneath his beige Armani suit. With a cold   
stare, he looked towards them. "You must be Brabant," he   
said, his voice deep and rich, and very threatening.   
  
Nick was nearly knocked over as age and power swept over his   
senses. This was a vampire. A very old vampire. And while   
he had thought Alihra's presence had been intimidating, this   
made her seem like a mere child. "Yes," he said cautiously   
even though he knew that the vampire had not really asked,   
his previous statement being just that. A statement.  
  
Subconsciously, Nick glanced quickly to the right, checking   
on his mortal companion. Luckily Nat was staying quiet   
beside him. Apparently even she could sense the power   
emanating from this ancient. "Who are you?" he asked,   
praying that the elder wouldn't take offense.   
  
The man did a graceful bow, his silky black hair falling   
lightly over his forehead. "I believe you would know me as   
Elohr," he said suavely with a slightly more friendly   
quality in his tone, his eyebrows raising, waiting to see   
Nick's reaction to the news of his identity.  
  
Nick felt his heart freeze in his chest. Oh... my...   
lord... He was standing face to face with the second in   
command of the Enforcer clan, the son of the eldest vampire,   
and all he could think of to say was, "You're Alihra's   
sire..."  
  
Elohr snickered, a deep bellow erupting from his lips as his   
striking violet eyes gleamed in amusement. "You know, of   
all the greetings I've ever gotten, that has to be the best   
I've heard in awhile!" he exclaimed, taking a small step   
towards them.   
  
"I have most vampires sniveling in fear the moment they hear   
who I am," he said disgustedly, pausing to shake his index   
finger at Nick. "But you," he paused, his eyes narrowing,   
"you are different. Why?"   
  
Nick was struck speechless. Why? Because he'd had so much   
experience dealing with domineering, elder vampires that it   
was rather laughable that he was even acting _this_ nervous?   
"I... I just don't find that type of thing very   
intimidating anymore..." he said honestly. It was true...   
He'd seen enough that not a whole lot fazed him anymore. He   
was more apprehensive about what this vampire would do to   
Nat, who's loud heartbeat was permeating the air to the   
point that a vampire as far away as Cleveland would probably   
be able to hear it...   
  
Elohr simply stared, his lips suddenly curving upwards in a   
twisted sneer. "You're worried about what I might do to   
your little mortal pet. Aren't you?" he asked, his   
eyebrows arched upwards.  
  
Nick was quick to deny as he subconsciously stepped between   
Nat and Elohr, blocking her from his immediate reach. "No,"   
he said, his voice rushed.   
  
The Enforcer just smiled. "I am an Enforcer, you silly   
fledgling, do not think that you can lie to me," he said   
condescendingly as he strode across the floor and helped   
himself to a seat. "Brabant... I know you from somewhere,   
where have I heard your name before? Is this your first   
time in trouble? Ha, of course it is, otherwise you'd be   
dead..." Elohr began talking to himself absently without a   
care devoted towards his curious audience, placing his chin   
in his hand as a look of utter consternation enveloped his   
face.   
  
Nick just watched with dread as a look of recognition marred   
the elder's face. "Ah, now I remember you. You were   
LaCroix's little brat. Always causing trouble with your   
fruitless little quest for mortality..." he said,   
his voice containing a tacit warning in it.  
  
Nick swallowed hard. He'd known that he was a common object   
of ridicule amongst the community, but he hadn't known he   
was so well known throughout the Enforcer community. He was   
broken from his thoughts when Elohr continued. "Tell me   
something, Brabant. Why do you search for what you surely   
will never find?" he asked, his tone becoming more curious   
than condescending.  
  
"Because..." Nick paused. He couldn't very well tell this   
man that they'd actually come very close on more than one   
occasion, that would establish way too much of a case   
against him. There was already too much against him.   
"Elohr, what type of world do you think this would be if we   
didn't follow our hearts? When you were mortal, did you   
ever think something as simple as a CD player would be   
possible?" Nick asked in a sudden flash of insight.   
  
Elohr nodded slightly. "Yes, yes, I think I can understand   
that..." he commented softly, his voice containing none of   
its former threat.   
  
"What are _you_ doing here?" Alihra's voice suddenly   
floated down from the upstairs walkway as she instantly   
appeared beside Elohr in a gust of air.   
  
Elohr did not look the least bit startled as he calmly   
turned to address his vampire daughter. "I felt your pain,   
I came to check on you..."   
  
"It was a hunter. It has been taken care of..." Alihra   
snapped. "Look, I'm fine. You can go back to wherever it   
was that you were so I can take care of this..." she said,   
her voice breaking slightly as she gestured to Nick and   
Natalie.   
  
Elohr glanced to them and then back to Alihra. "Taken care   
of?" he asked suspiciously, raising himself gracefully into   
a standing position. He reached out and grasped Alihra's   
shoulders. "You're hurt," he stated flatly when he saw her   
wince.   
  
"With all due respect, I'd be dead if it weren't for them,"   
Alihra whispered grimly, gesturing absently towards Nick.   
"So please leave. I have to show my thanks by enforcing   
your _stupid_ law!" she cried, a single red tear flowing   
quickly down her cheek. She was losing it, and she was   
losing it fast. Nick couldn't help but sympathize with her.   
His relationship with LaCroix had been similar, if not much   
more extreme...   
  
Elohr turned to Nick, obviously shaken at the news. "Is   
this true? Did you save her?" he asked softly, and Nick   
could see Alihra wince as Elohr's grip on her shoulders grew   
slightly tighter. He obviously cared a great deal about   
her.  
  
"Well I helped, but Natalie is the one who treated her   
injuries..." Nick commented hopefully, trying to keep his   
cool. This might be exactly what they needed to pull them   
out of this mess, and there was no way he was going to ruin   
it with a misplaced smile or show of self-satisfaction. He   
was in the presence of an Enforcer. He was supposed to be   
afraid... Submissive...  
  
Elohr seemed to debate silently with himself for a brief   
moment before gracefully bowing. "Then I thank you," he   
said simply. "Alihra is my first and only fledgling, I   
would not do well to lose her," he commented softly as he   
looked at her, his eyes reflecting a certain, hidden pain.   
There was a weariness amongst the violet irises, and Nick   
was surprised that he had not seen it before...   
  
The elder turned to Nick with a click of his heals. "I will   
grant you one request, within reason, in return for what you   
have done for me. Name it and I shall do my best to adhere   
to it," he said seriously, the look on his face grim and far   
from friendly.   
  
Nick felt a surge of hope spread through him as he took a   
deep breath. "Let us go. I promise no more infractions..."   
he said, his voice low and meek. He wanted this, but he   
wouldn't, he _couldn't_ make it seem like he was desperate.   
  
Elohr briefly considered the request and then nodded   
minutely, apparently coming to the decision that it was a   
fair trade. "Done. I grant you asylum. The Enforcers   
will not interfere with your affairs provided no further   
serious infractions of the code are incurred. And I expect   
you to contact us _immediately_ should there be an accident   
regarding that..." he warned them and then turned to Alihra,   
not even waiting for a response or to see their reaction.   
  
"Alihra? Shall we depart?" he asked, extending his arm for   
her to grab onto. Alihra smiled and nodded.   
  
"Thank you," she whispered and kissed his cheek. Elohr   
looked rather startled at the open gesture of affection, but   
he quickly returned it with a light hug. Nick found himself   
unable to move as he closed his eyes and held his breath,   
waiting for himself to wake up from this wonderful dream...   
But it wasn't a dream. Alihra grabbed lightly onto her   
sire's arm and led him out of the loft.   
  
Letting his breath out in a heavy exhalation as the door to   
the lift slid shut and the whirring motors hummed to life,   
Nick felt his shoulders suddenly slump in relaxation. He   
hadn't realized how truly tense he'd been... "Did you hear   
that Nat?" he whispered in wonder, needing to reassure   
himself once again that he wasn't dreaming.  
  
Nat smiled and moved closer to him. "Yeah, I heard him,"   
she said with a wicked smile on her face, "Now c'mere and   
let's start collecting." She grabbed him in a tight   
embrace, planting her lips on his, practically crushing   
herself against him as a blissful silence filled the loft.   
It was just he and Nat, their panting breaths flooding the   
air in an explosion of passion.  
  
*****  
  
Natalie startled awake, slapping her evil alarm clock as   
hard as she could until she was greeted with blessed   
silence. Funny, she couldn't remember setting her alarm...   
What time was it? She looked up blearily towards the   
digital display, and was greeted with an ugly green display   
that read 7:00 AM.   
  
AM? When was the last time she'd actually woken up in the   
morning? Wow, she couldn't even remember it. She rolled   
over to embrace Nick and go back to sleep, only to be   
greeted with an empty bed.   
  
Opening her eyes wide, she glanced around. There on Nick's   
pillow was a small note.   
  
Meet me downstairs, I'll be waiting.  
  
Love, Nick.  
  
It was succinct, but it did get its point across. Nat got   
up and put her pink terrycloth bathrobe on, wondering what   
this was all about. She peered out of the room and into the   
living area below. It was completely void of Nick, except   
there was one thing there that hadn't been there before...  
  
She raced downstairs, her feet padding furiously on the cold   
floor. It was beautiful. "Do you like it?" Nick came up   
from behind her and grabbed her into a tight embrace,   
rocking her back and forth as she stared at it.   
  
"You put up a tree!" she exclaimed happily, staring at it   
with wide eyes. It was a green fir, so laden with lights   
and glittering ornaments that it lit the entire room on its  
own, and there, on the top, was a little angel with wings   
outspread in a gesture of rejoice. "Nick, it's lovely..."   
she said dreamily, leaning back into his arms as he kissed   
her back and shoulders repeatedly.  
  
"Your present is down there, why don't you go open it?" Nick   
suggested innocently.   
  
Nat turned to him suspiciously. "Nick, Christmas isn't for   
another three days, what have you got up your sleeve?" she   
questioned him with a light kiss.   
  
"Just open it," he said with a mischievous smile.   
  
She looked down underneath the tree and found a small box   
about three inches long and two inches wide, wrapped in   
plain green paper and a tiny red velvet bow. Looking up at   
Nick curiously, she only received a small nod of   
encouragement.   
  
Lightly, she creased the tape with the nail of her thumb,   
and eased open the paper, careful to protect it from any   
tears and breaks. "Nat, it's a present. You're supposed to   
rip it open..." Nick said with a chuckle.   
  
Nat looked at him indignantly. "I like to save the   
paper..." she said as she eased open the small box and   
gasped. There inside, was a tiny ring, a marquise-cut red   
stone set between two smaller brilliant-cut white diamonds.   
She shifted the box in her hands, letting the light reflect   
off the facets of the crystals in the sheer brilliance of a   
sunset captured in stone. It was absolutely stunning.   
  
"What's the red stone in the middle?" she asked curiously as   
she continued to examine the little ring, feeling slightly   
lightheaded from sheer joy.   
  
"It's a red diamond," Nick whispered softly. "Red for   
passion... for love. Natalie, you are my heart. My   
life..." he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. He gripped   
her abdomen in a tighter embrace, looking over her shoulder   
patiently as she stared at it and the way the light glanced   
off its surface.  
  
She glanced down in awe. "I didn't even know they came in   
red..." she said absently, delicately touching the stone as   
if she half expected it to break at the slightest jostle.   
No one had ever given her something like this before.   
Never. The red diamond was rather large, but being no   
expert on diamonds herself Nat couldn't really gauge it   
other than to say that Nick must've been out a fortune.   
  
She pulled it out of the box and fingered it, turning it   
over lightly in her hand. On the inside of the golden ring   
band at the base of the diamonds, was a small inscription,   
"All my love forever," Natalie whispered, reading the tiny   
script in wonder. Testing it out, she found that the ring   
fit perfectly, not too snug, not too loose.   
  
Finally finished staring at the beautiful ring on her   
finger, she turned around in his embrace and looked up at   
him, her eyes wide. "Nick, is this what I think it is?" she   
asked hesitantly, not wanting to get her hopes up only to   
have them smashed.   
  
Nick nodded slowly. "Unless you're thinking it's not an   
engagement ring," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Nat,   
I love you more than life itself, will you do me the honor   
of being my wife?" he whispered softly, getting down on one   
knee and taking her hand in the classic proposal pose.  
  
Nat suddenly felt like she was floating as a smile split her   
face. "Oh, God yes, Nick!" she cried happily, leaping into   
his arms and practically knocking him over, kissing him   
wildly.   
  
Nick smiled mutely and softly kissed the ring on her finger.   
"Thank you, Nat. Thank you for everything," he whispered   
passionately as he took her into a warm, fervent kiss.  
  
THE END   
  



End file.
